Evermore
by forensicsgirl
Summary: Set after NFA. He thought the final battle was over. The rest of the AI team were dead, but he had survived to receive his reward. But nothing was what it seemed, and the final battle, the REAL one, had yet to come...
1. Family

_Rating PG-13, just to be on the safe side..._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Angel, Buffy, Mutant Enemy Inc, or anything cool, really. I just like to play with them from time to time in my little puppet show of cruelty._

_I am not profiting from the writing of these stories (despite the fact that I spend more time writing them than I do at college or at my job combined). So** Please read and review**. It's all I got, man..._

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**Evermore**

→ **_adv._** _(literary)_ always; forever.

(From _The Concise Oxford English Dictionary_)

* * *

Sunlight streamed across his face as Angel awoke in his soft, comfortable bed. Yawning lightly he squinted at the light, but it no longer caused him any kind of worry. Getting used to direct sunlight had been the easy part. Getting used to being in a perpetual state of happiness and contentment, without fear of the consequences, had taken a little longer.

Glancing down, he sighed with some of that contentment now, seeing the brunette head nestled into the nook where his arm met his shoulder. Smiling, he stooped and planted a gentle kiss on the top of her hair, pausing to take in the scent of her shampoo.

He would never cease to be in wonder and awe of this. Waking up in bed with the woman he loved. Being allowed to experience such happiness. Such bliss. It was a fate he never believed that he would deserve. He had never allowed himself to truly believe it would come true, not even when he became obsessed with working towards it, immediately after hearing about the prophecy during his first year in to LA. But this _was_ real, he kept telling himself. Finally, after years of fighting the good fight, after losing so much, he had been allowed some peace. A normal life.

Overcome with emotion, he pulled the love of his life closer to him, savouring her warmth against his skin. The action made her stir, and she curled her body closer to him, winding her arms tightly around his body.

'Morning gorgeous,' she greeted him as she did ever morning.

She lifted her head to smile at him, and he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. Pulling her further up his body, he drew her mouth to his, gently caressing her lips with his own. Drawing his head back slightly, he smiled at her. 'Morning, Cordy.'

'A girl could get used to waking up like this,' she told him.

'Well, get used to it,' he told her, 'because I intend on waking you up like this every morning for the rest of our lives.'

'I'm gonna hold you to that, buster,' she replied, touching her lips to his once more.

A surge of happiness went through him, and he wondered how he had gotten so lucky. He had caused so much pain and destruction in his lifetime. Even though he fought and strove to make amends, he couldn't fathom how he had ended up deserving all of this.

Deepening the kiss, he pulled her onto his chest. Barely able to tear himself from her lips, he moved his kisses along her jaw and round to her neck, breathing in her scent. Cordy sighed happily into his hair. 'Definitely could get used to this.'

The made love in the early morning sunlight, slow and passionate in their exploration of each others bodies. Neither one held anything back, trusting each other, loving each other completely. They way they had every single day since he had achieved Shanshu.

So much had been sacrificed to get to this point. So many lost in the many battles they had fought. Doyle had been the first soldier down. Then Fred. Wesley, Gunn and Spike had all fallen by the end of the final battle. He missed them all terribly. But they had won. In the end, they had beaten back the forces of darkness once more. And Angel had gotten his reward. His humanity. His family.

As he and Cordelia lay in each others arms, utterly content, the other member of that family decided to make himself heard. Connor's voice carried through the house. He seemed to be talking to himself as he played in his room down the hall, and banging blocks together by the sound of things.

Cordy gave out a soft groan. 'You're lucky you didn't start that a couple of minutes ago, kiddo,' she said with a laugh. Brushing a kiss to Angel's cheek, she started to get up. Angel stopped her.

'I'll get him,' he told her. 'You lie there and relax.'

He got no argument from her. 'My hero,' she said, settling back down into the bed. 'I suppose you did _kinda_ wear me out,' she added with a smile.

'_Kinda_?' he replied as he moved to the door. 'We'll have to do better than that later.'

He walked the short distance to his son's bedroom and looked inside. Connor was out of bed, playing with blocks and action figures on his bedroom floor, apparently making them have a battle of some kind. Angel smiled. _Like father, like son_. Connor was two and a half now, and already showed signs of a very active imagination.

Picking his son up, Angel dropped a kiss on the little boy's rumpled hair. 'Let's go see Mama, kiddo,' he told him. Connor wound his arms around his father's neck in a bear hug and Angel felt happiness squeeze his heart once again.

* * *

Their day passed like all the others they had experienced in this new life. Completely normal. Completely perfect. It was Sunday, so like always he and Cordy took Connor to the park after breakfast. It was simple things like this that Angel took so much pleasure in now. Spending time with his wife and child. Doing normal, family things. Cordy watched, amused, as Angel pushed their little boy on the swing, and he smiled at her.

After the park, they went for ice-cream and then went back to their simple but comfortable home. Lazy Sundays had become Angel's favourite day of the week.

As dusk fell, he and Cordy sat cuddled together on the couch while their son played quietly at their feet. It was the perfect image of what family life should be, and Angel had never felt so alive. Brushing a kiss to his wife's forehead he got up and went to the kitchen to get their boy his bedtime glass of juice. He had just put the apple juice container back in the fridge when he heard a crash, as the window in the living room was smashed in.

Running to the living room, he saw four vampires in his home. How they got in without an invitation he didn't know. He didn't stop to think. He charged at them as they moved toward his family. Cordelia was already on her feet, scooping up Connor and trying to get him away from the threat.

Angel landed a punch on the nearest vampire's jaw. The fiend's head snapped back, but the punch wasn't nearly as effective as it would have been when Angel still had his vampire strength. Recovering quickly, the vamp grinned and head-butted Angel without batting an eye. Angel spun around with the force, straight into the fist of another vamp. Angel blocked the next blow and sent a kick in the direction of a third vamp. Landing a fierce upper cut to the vamp directly in front of him, he tried to get to Cordelia, who was being cornered by the fourth member of the group. She was trying to hold him off with a lamp as a make-shift weapon, but with Connor in her arms, Angel knew she wouldn't be able to fight effectively.

Angel made it half way across the room when he was grabbed by two of the vamps. With them pinning his arms behind him, the third vampire rained down punches on his face, chest and head. Severely winded, he still struggled to get free. But the vampires were too strong for him. He was helpless. But that didn't stop him struggling, especially when he saw the fourth vampire disarm Cordelia and snatch Connor out of her arms.

Fighting like a wild thing for her son, Cordy, jumped on the vampires back, scratching, biting, kicking. Anything to get her son away from the monster. Connor was screaming and crying, trying to get away from the scary monster. The vamp who had been punching Angel went after Cordy, dragging her off his cohort and subduing her with a fierce punch to the face.

'Cordy!' Angel yelled, fighting to get away. The vampire holding Connor walked to the struggling man and kicked him in the face. Dazed, Angel felt one of the vampires holding him grab him by the hair and jerk his head up. They were going to make him watch.

With the vicious poetry with which he had killed his prey as Angelus, the vampire holding Cordy sunk his teeth into her neck. Connor's screams were soon silenced by the vampire holding him, as he snapped the child's neck and began to drink.

'_NO!_' Angel screamed as he saw his family, his life, being torn away from him. Cordelia's eyes locked with his and he saw her fear, her pain, as the last drop of blood was taken from her and she slipped away.

Hot tears poured down his face as the monsters dropped his wife and child to the ground like discarded food wrappers. Broken, he could only whimper at his loss. He didn't even flinch when one of the vamps kicked him in the head and the world went black.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Reality Bites

**_A/N: _**_First of all, a big shout out goes to _Moonjava - _thanks for the review. Hope you continue to enjoy the story. _

_I'm actually really excited with the way this is taking shape, both in my head and on paper- it started out as a random idea, grew and kept on growing. Expect major angst, prophecies, apocalyptic battles and the appearance of several well-loved and familiar faces in future chapters. Well, now that I've hyped the story up big style, on with the show... PS: Make my day - read and review._

* * *

Angel yawned and stretched slightly, as the warm sunlight that caressed his face roused him from his sleep. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that, not six months ago, the idea of lying in direct sunlight would have caused him to cower into the shadows. But not anymore. Things had changed.

And as he looked down at the sleeping beauty at his side, nestled into him in her slumber, he thought of just how much things had changed. How all of his brooding had been replaced with so much happiness. Placing a kiss on Cordelia's head, he woke her as he did every morning.

'Morning gorgeous,' she said. He kissed her good morning in reply. She smiled. 'Mmm, a girl could get used to waking up like this.'

'Get used to it,' Angel replied, smiling at his wife. With that he kissed her again, their passion and love for one another heating up his no longer room temperature blood. They made love in the sunlight and Angel had never known such pure joy.

It was Sunday, Angel's favourite day of the week, as it meant that he didn't have to go to work but could spend the day with his family. They took Connor to the park, ate ice-cream, all the normal family stuff that both he and Cordy had longed for. It wasn't until the settled down for the evening, just before dusk, that things started to get strange.

Cordy was chatting about a trip they were thinking of taking to Europe. She was just beginning to talk about dates and flights when she stopped talking altogether. Angel looked at her, and saw she was frozen, her mouth half opened, in the middle of her sentence. Looking down to the floor, he was saw Connor had stopped moving as well, frozen in tableau with his toys.

'What the…' he started, before a familiar voice from behind him cut him off.

'Hey handsome.'

Leaping to his feet he spun around to be faced with… Cordelia? His eyes flew back and forth between the Cordy in front of him and the Cordy still sitting frozen on the couch. The Cordy standing in front of him looked different. There was a luminescence about her, aided and abetted by the flowing white clothes she was wearing.

'I know, I know,' the non-frozen Cordy said. 'It's a tad confusing. Let me make it simple for you. That's not me,' she said, pointing at herself on the couch.

'That's not you?' Angel said, completely confused. 'Who the hell are you?'

'Who do you think I am, silly?' Cordy answered with a smile. 'Look, Angel, I don't have much time…'

'You're damn right you don't,' Angel said with a growl, stalking towards her. He pointed to the door. 'Get the hell away from my family!'

'Angel, you need to calm down and listen to me. The Powers can only hide my presence here for a short time,' Cordelia said in a firm voice. 'Do you really think that all this,' she gestured round the room, 'is your life?'

'Actually I do,' Angel said. 'I fought long and hard for…'

'Yes, you did,' Cordelia cut him off. 'And you deserve to have your reward. But this isn't it. This is hell.'

Angel laughed despite his anger and confusion. 'Lady, I don't know who you are, but I've been to hell, and this isn't it.'

'There are all sorts of hells, Angel,' Cordy replied reasonably. 'Some are full of fire and brimstone and some involve sitting on a cloud watching everyone you love fall in battle while you can do _nothing_ to help.' Cordelia had tried to keep her voice steady, but her emotions were starting to get the better of her.

Angel heard the pain in her voice. This thing was doing a very good impression of Cordy, but he wasn't going to buy it. 'Yeah, there are all kinds of hell. But believe me, this isn't one of them. We're _happy_. For the first time, we're at peace. We're a family. It's what I've always wanted.'

'But it's a little too perfect, isn't?' she told him. 'Image, you and me, living under the same roof, _never_ arguing? _Never_ disagreeing on anything? It's a little far fetched, don't ya think?'

'It's…' Angel faltered. He remembered the old days. No matter how well they got along and cared for each other, he and Cordy were two very strong personalities. They disagreed all the time. But now…

'This is an idealised version of the world. That is not me. I'm dead. I died several months ago, after being in a coma for the best part of a year.'

'No! You came out of the coma. You came home.'

'No Angel,' Cordelia shook her head sadly. Tears were forming in her eyes. 'The Powers let me come back for a day. To put you back on your mission. I never really woke up.'

'I suppose next you're going to tell me that little boy isn't my son, either.'

'That's not Connor. Connor is nineteen years old. This is not your life. It's a construct. Designed to keep your mind imprisoned.'

'Like in the Matrix?' Angel asked.

'Geez, what is it with you guys and the Matrix?' Cordelia asked, rolling her eyes. 'Yes, exactly like that. This day is on a loop. Everyday you get up, spend a blissfully happy day with what you think is your family…'

'Wow, sounds like torture,' Angel replied sarcastically. 'However have I survived?'

'Then every evening,' Cordy pressed on, 'four vampires break into your home and kill your wife and child while making you watch.'

'You sick bitch,' Angel said, his fury rising. 'I don't know what kind of a sick joke you're…'

'It's no joke, Angel,' Cordelia cut him off. 'It'll happen within moments of me leaving. Then you black out, wake up the next morning, and repeat the cycle all over again.'

'Why? Why are you telling me this?'

'Because you _need_ to know. Because every time you see vampires rip the throats out of what you think is your family, you lose another piece of your soul. It'll go on and on until there is nothing left of you. This is the senior partners' punishment for you going up against them.'

'I don't believe you.'

'You don't believe me because you don't want to,' Cordy replied. 'You want so badly for this life to be real. I understand. I _wish _it was, Angel. But it's not. And I _need_ you to come back into the real world.'

'Even if this is true. If all this isn't real…' Angel hung his head. 'Why would I go back? What would be the point?'

'Because you still have a destiny to fulfil,' Cordy said, moving towards him. 'This isn't over. You can't let Wolfram and Hart win.'

'How can I go back?' he asked, his voice anguished. 'How can I go back into a world without… without you?'

'Angel…'

'No! Everyone I ever cared about is gone. The whole team is dead. I'm the only one left. You say that you died in reality. So what the hell do I have to go back for?'

'Your son!' Cordy yelled at him. 'Remember him? He's still out there and he's going to need your help.'

Angel looked away from her, shaking his head. Cordelia moved closer and place her hand on his cheek, turning his face round to look at her.

'_Please_, Angel,' she pleaded. 'I need you to keep fighting. You have to do this. Your reward is still waiting for you. You just need to remember who you are.'

Tears had begun to run silently down his face. 'So I'm meant to give all this up? Just because the Powers need their champion back? Is that it? Well, the Powers can go to hell! They gave up on me a long time ago.'

Cordy shook her head. 'No, Angel. You gave up on them.'

'I gave up on them when they gave up on you!'

'They didn't give up on me, Angel. They messed up, sure. They didn't see Jasmine coming. None of us did. But they're trying to make amends for that now.'

Angel looked at his family and then back at Cordy. He was so conflicted, not knowing what to believe, or even what he wanted to believe.

'I need my champion back in the ring,' Cordy told him. 'You won't be alone in this. I promise. You need to do this. For yourself. For Connor. For me.'

'But, I…' Angel started to say. Cordelia stepped away from him quickly looking up at the ceiling.

'I have to go,' she said urgently. 'The spell that's hiding me from the Partners' is starting to wear off. Remember what I said. Remember who you are and fight for us.' With that she was gone, disappearing in a flash of light.

The Cordelia on the couch began to talk again, and then stopped, looking across the room at her husband. 'Wow, I must really have zoned out there. I didn't even see you get up. You getting Connor's bedtime drink?'

'Uh, yeah,' Angel replied, still dazed from what had happened. Shaking off what had been said, he walked to the kitchen. It was nonsense, he thought. None of it could be true. He had either gone off into some kind of weird daydream or someone was messing with him. Well, he wasn't going to fall for it, whatever the case was.

He was putting the carton of apple juice back in the fridge when he heard glass breaking. Running back into the living room he saw four vampires enter his house. The thought of how vampires could possible enter his home without an invitation was quickly replaced by the memory of what Cordy had just told him. _Four vampires_.

Cordy had scooped up Connor, moving as far away from the vamps as possible and grabbing a lamp to serve as a make-shift weapon. Forgetting everything else, Angel rushed at the vamps, barrelling into them. He landed a punch on the nearest vampire's jaw. The fiend's head snapped back, but he recovered quickly enough to grin and head-butt Angel without batting an eye. Angel spun around with the force, straight into the fist of another vamp. He managed to block the next blow and sent a kick in the direction of a third vamp. Landing a fierce upper cut to the vamp directly in front of him, he tried to get to Cordelia, who was being cornered by the fourth member of the group. She was trying to hold him off, but with Connor in her arms, Angel knew she wouldn't be able to fight effectively.

Angel made it half way across the room when he was grabbed by two of the vamps. They pinned his arms behind his back, while the third vampire rained down punches on him. The vampires were too strong for him. He was helpless, but he kept on struggling, especially when he saw the fourth vampire disarm Cordelia and snatch Connor out of her arms.

Fighting like a wild thing for her son, Cordy jumped on the vampire's back. Connor was screaming for his mommy. The vamp who had been punching Angel went after Cordy, dragging her off the other vampire and punching her in the face.

'Cordy!' Angel yelled, fighting to get away. The vampire holding Connor walked up to him and kicked him in the face. Dazed, Angle felt one of the vampires holding him grab him by the hair and jerk his head up. The realisation hit him. They were going to make him watch.

The vampire holding Cordy sunk his teeth into her neck. Connor's screams were soon silenced by the vampire holding him, as he snapped the child's neck and began to drink.

'_NO!_' Angel screamed. Cordy's wide eyes locked with his. And then she was gone.

Tears poured down his face as both Cordelia and Conner fell to the floor. Fury and pain coursed through him. He had been told this would happen. Why couldn't he prevent it? Anger and hatred for his family's killers boiled up and he felt his face change. His forehead grew bumpy, fangs appeared in his mouth. His yellow eyes locked on his four opponents.

His transformation gave the vampire's pause. He was meant to be human, not a vampire. Their hesitation was their obituary. Flinging the two vamps that held him across the room, he grabbed the broken leg of an end table that had been broken in the earlier struggle. Without pause, he staked the two vamps that had killed his family, before finishing off the other two. Then, collapsing on the floor, he wept.

* * *

He woke up much later: minutes, hours; he had no concept of time. He didn't even remember falling asleep. All he could remember was his loss, his terrible loss. He felt like his unbeating heart had been ripped from him.

He suddenly realised that he was no longer on the floor of his house. He was in a dark alleyway. Looking around, he saw that it was the same alley in which he had fought his last battle against the forces of Wolfram and Hart. He could still see evidence of the carnage. He could still smell the blood.

'Angel?' a familiar voice asked in the darkness, startling him. He looked up to see three women, a blonde and brunette and a red-head, moving towards him.

* * *

_To Be Continued... In the next chapter we return to my beloved Hyperion, Angel reunites with some old allies and we find out a little more about just what the heck is going on..._


	3. The Real World

_A/N: Hope everyone had a nice easter. This chapter took a little longer than I planned because it's a little... okay, who am I kidding, a LOT angsty. I know this is supposed to be an angst story, but it's something I'm not entirely used to writing, so it took a while to get my head around it. Anyway, there'll be a little more action in the story from here on in (hopefully). But for now... enjoy. Read and Review if the spirit moves you._

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'Angel,' the voice said again, this time closer. Angel looked up to see the brunette bending over him, looking concerned. 'Hey. You okay, big guy?'

'Faith?' Angel asked, uncertain. 'Is that you?'

'Yeah, it's me. Large as life and twice as hot,' Faith answered. She glanced at her two companions before looking back to the vampire with concern. 'You okay, Angel? Did you bump your head or somethin'?'

Angel looked away and closed his eyes. Had he been sent out of one version of hell and into another? Or was this the real world Cordy wanted him to come back to?

'Angel,' this time it was Buffy's voice that spoke. 'We've been looking for you for weeks. Where…'

'Weeks?' he asked.

'Yeah, we heard about the showdown going on here in LA,' Faith replied. 'Figured we'd grab us some of the action. But we got here too late. Party was already over, and you were no where to be found.'

Suddenly Angel hung his head, and the two slayers and the witch were surprised to see tears on his face. 'I remember. I remember everything now. We lost.'

'Angel?' Buffy asked, concerned. 'What happened? Where were you?'

'She said I was in hell,' Angel replied, not looking at her. 'But it was dressed up like heaven.' He looked around him. 'She was wrong. This is hell.'

'She who?' Buffy wanted to know. He didn't seem to hear her.

'No, Angel,' Willow said soothingly, 'this isn't hell.' She looked around the alley at all the blood and destruction and almost reconsidered her statement. 'It might look that way, but…'

'Angel?' Buffy said softly. She took a step towards him, and to her surprise he almost cowered from her. 'It's okay. Just tell me, what happened. Where were you?'

A noise interrupted her. A not so distant roaring.

'B, we'd better get out of dodge. The natives are restless and Angel's in no condition to be in the middle of a fight,' Faith said.

Angel looked up at the sky. 'I didn't slay the dragon, did I?'

Faith shook her head. ''Fraid not, big guy. Plenty of time for that later.'

Buffy offered Angel her hand. He looked at it, hesitating. 'Are you really here?' he asked.

'_Yes_,' she replied. 'Come on, let's get out of here.'

* * *

The Scoobies had made the Hyperion Hotel command central on their first day in LA. They had brought around forty slayers with them, the most they could muster at a moments notice, having only received word of the impending apocalypse when it had already started.

A thousand memories flooded back to Angel as he walked through the doors of the hotel and into the lobby. He hadn't been back there since they took over Wolfram & Hart. He hadn't been able to muster the courage. Every memory of that place was tied up with Cordelia. As he entered the lobby, he involuntarily looked over towards her desk and he felt like someone had ripped open his chest.

Rupert Giles and Xander Harris were sitting in the office, both in full research mode. Angel was somewhat surprised to note that Xander no longer had the use of both his eyes.

'Angel,' Giles said with surprise. 'We were beginning to think we'd never see you again.'

Angel glances around the lobby. Several girls were sparring, others reading. 'Slayers?' he asked.

'Yes,' Giles replied. 'We took as many as we could here for what we assumed would be the apocalyptic battle. But I'm afraid…'

'You missed it?' Angel cut in. 'Don't worry. You didn't.'

The others looked confused. 'Angel, a huge battle took place. LA has become a war zone,' Giles said.

'LA's been a war zone for a while now, on and off,' Angel replied. 'And that wasn't the apocalypse, because all the chief players of the apocalypse are dead. _That_ battle was payback.'

'Payback for what?' Willow asked.

'My team took out the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn,' Angel replied. 'The Senior Partners didn't appreciate it.'

'The Black Thorn?' Giles asked. 'I'm afraid I've never…'

'Secret society, the Senior Partner's instruments on earth. Exclusive club of demons who control the apocalypse, like I said.'

'And you killed them?' Buffy asked.

'My team did. So Wolfram & Hart rained hell down on us.'

'And it's still raining,' Willow said. 'I've been sensing dimensional portals opening a couple of times a day. That's why we were in the alley.'

'You've been going out every time a portal opens?'

'No, I sensed something different about that one,' Willow replied. 'Something familiar.'

'Me?'

'No, it…' she glanced at Buffy for a moment. 'It kinda felt like Cordelia, actually.'

Angel looked away. 'Cordy's dead.'

'Yeah, we know Angel,' Xander said sharply. 'What? You couldn't pick up the phone and let us know? Was that beneath you in your lofty office building?'

'I'm sorry. I didn't… I wasn't exactly thinking straight. And I got the impression you guys wouldn't want to hear from me. Something your friend Andrew said about me being the enemy.'

'Yeah, well you not clueing us in doesn't help you in that department,' Xander bit back.

Angel didn't try to defend himself. He simply hung his head.

'It's been nearly three months!' Xander looked ready to tear chunks off the vampire.

'Xander,' Giles said sharply. 'This isn't the time.'

'How did you find out?' Angel asked the Watcher. 'About Cordy?'

Giles replied by holding up the leather bound book he had been reading. Angel recognised it. One of Wesley's journals. 'I received a package just before I left England for LA. Wesley sent me all his diaries for the past five years, along with a scroll.'

'He must have known he wasn't going to make it,' Angel said sadly.

'Angel?' Faith spoke up. 'Wes _didn't_ make it, did he?'

Angel shook his head. 'No one did.'

He looked at Buffy, seeing realisation dawning in her eyes. He looked away, the final moments of the battle assaulting his mind.

_The battle raged all around them. Angel had lost count of how many demons he had killed, but they kept coming, like an endless sea. Illyria destroyed demon after demon, propelled by the grief she didn't understand or know how to control. Gunn fought like a champion, but Angel could see he was fading fast. He wasn't going to make it. As that thought crossed his mind, it became fact. Taking advantage of a moment's unsteadiness, a demon grabbed Gunn from behind. Angel charged forward, cutting down several demons in the process, but he was too late. The demon snapped Gunn's neck and the warrior of good fell to the ground, dead. _

_Angel let out a guttural yell and launched himself at the demon, cutting him in half before the creature could even think about a defence. Then Angel looked down at his fallen comrade's body and silently added him to the list. Doyle, Cordelia, Fred, Wesley. Charles Gunn. All champions. All gone._

_Angel lost track of Illyria in all the carnage, but he did have one last glimpse of Spike. In his element, the vampire looked almost gleeful in the battle, cutting through as many demons as Angel had. He had just beheaded a Grogon demon when, out of nowhere, the dragon swooped. A flash of flames set Spike a light. In the fireball he had become, Angel could almost see him mouthing the words '_Oh, bollocks!_' before he turned to dust as was no more._

'Spike,' Buffy said. She knew he was gone. She had sensed it when they arrived in the alley immediately after the battle. She just hadn't accepted it until now.

* * *

Angel sat in the hotel's garden staring into space, trying to ignore the smell of jasmine that served as another reminder of what he had lost. He wondered where it had all gone wrong. Things had been bad even before he accepted Lilah's offer of taking over Wolfram & Hart.

What had set all this death in motion? Was it Cordelia's ascension as a higher power? Wesley's betrayal when he took Connor from him? His one night of madness with Darla? Cordelia receiving the visions in the first place? Doyle's death? The simple act of moving to LA in the first place? His misguided belief that he could actually make a difference? Or had all this been set in motion the moment he died in an alley in Galway, only to be reborn as Angelus?

Whatever the cause, he knew that it was all down to him. He was supposed to be the champion. He was supposed to protect them all. Now, he was the only one left. He had failed his friends. And he couldn't help wondering if this was his punishment for all the death he had caused in his very long life. Maybe the mission he had been on for so long didn't make any difference. Maybe, in the end, all the Powers wanted was to take everyone he loved away from him. Make him experience at least a fraction of the pain and loss he had caused. If that was their plan, then it was working. Angel had never felt so alone. He had never experienced such pain.

Buffy approached the brooding vampire with some hesitation. He seemed broken, more lost than she had ever seen him.

'Hey,' she said softly, sitting by his side.

'Hey,' he replied, not looking up.

'I'm sorry about your team,' she told him sincerely. She couldn't imagine what she would do if she lost everyone she cared about in such a short space of time. Losing her Mom had been devastating, but she still had Dawn, Giles, Willow, Xander, all the other people she loved to see her through it. Angel had been left with no one.

'Yeah,' he said. A thought dawned on him. He looked up, and Buffy saw not only grief, but sympathy in his eyes. 'I'm sorry about Spike.'

The sincerity of his voice startled her. Angel and Spike had never gotten along as far as Buffy could tell. Certainly their rivalry over her affections had put them at odds. Sure, they had fought side by side for the past year, but Buffy honestly never expected Angel to acknowledge how Spike's death might affect her.

Brushing away a stray tear that had appeared on her cheek, she replied, 'I mourned for him after Sunnydale. Even when Andrew told me he was alive, I didn't really allow myself to believe it. But… it would have been nice to have seen him again, before…'

Angel started to nod, and then reconsidered. 'I don't know, Buffy. 'One last goodbye' meetings are a double-edged sword. On one hand, you finally get to do or say what you needed to but… the wounds it opens up… Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. And if we truly love the other person, they know it, without us having to say it.'

'You're getting profound in your old age,' Buffy teased him gently. She got the distinct impression he was talking about himself as much as he was her, and couldn't help feel a pang of… jealousy, maybe.

'I was always profound, Buffy,' Angel smiled sadly. 'You just weren't paying attention before.'

She bit back a retort. Everything that had happened in the past few years had made her really re-evaluate her life. And she knew, deep down, he was right. She never really knew him. She only ever saw what she wanted to see, whether it was the good or the bad. She had never really understood his mission. Understood what drove him. Understood the man underneath the vampire. Only one woman had. It was then that she understood that he wasn't only mourning the loss of his team, but loss of the woman he had clearly loved.

'I'm so sorry about Cordy,' she told him, tears welling up in her eyes. With that one statement she knew she was letting him go. She had ceased being the love of his life. Someone else had taken that mantel and, deep down, after what she had read with sceptical eyes in Wesley's diaries, she knew that Cordy was the right person for the job.

Angel bent his head again, and Buffy thought she saw tears on his face. Leaving him to his private grief, she got up and went back to her team.

* * *

_To Be Continued... Coming next: Giles starts to translate the scroll (which, wouldn't you know, happens to be ANOTHER prophecy), Angel goes in search of his son and the reason behind Angel's return starts to become clearer. _


	4. Prophecies

_A/N: A REALLY BIG THANK YOU to all those who have review the story so far. Glad you're enjoying it. Hope you continue to do so. _

**Imzadi**: _I'm afraid that Lindsey will not be coming back in this story. Sorry about that, but I'm sticking with what happened in the show - he is indeed dead. And Angel and Faith **will not** be having any kindof romance - trust me, in my angel-verse, Angel is a one woman vampire. _

**Canababy: **_I'm not going to say whether or not Cordy will be making another appearance cuz I don't want to ruin any plotlines on you, but I will say that I'm die-hard A/C shipper, so take from that what you will :-)_

_Anyway, on with the story. I planned to have some action in this chapter, but the exposition ran a little longer than I planned, so there will definately be some action in the next chapter. Hope you like it, let me know if you do..._

* * *

Giles had spent the past two weeks in LA, when not training the slayers, studying Wesley's diaries. From the latest entries, he gleaned that the scroll was a recent acquisition which Wesley had not had time to translate. So Giles set to work.

The text was dense, in multiple ancient and demonic languages. It also made reference to several other texts that Giles didn't have access to, which made the task of cross-referencing extremely difficult. But not impossible. At least two of the texts mention had already been studied by Wesley and, he being a fastidious record keeper, had been described in depth in his journals.

From the wording, Giles had already figured out that the text was in fact a prophecy. So far he had pulled out references to the apocalypse (to which he didn't bat an eye – when wasn't he finding prophecies about the apocalypse?), along with several mentions of 'the trinity of evil' and the 'three souls of good'. He hadn't figured out who these major players were as yet, but they had something to do with two other ancient texts – the prophecies of Aberjian and the Nyazian Scroll.

Re-reading what Wesley had noted regarding the Nyazian scroll more than two years ago, he cross-referenced the phraseology with what was in the new scroll. The third 'soul of good' appeared to be called 'The Destroyer'. Not a terribly comforting name, Giles thought, but it was something to go on. He decided to speak to Angel about it, to see if Wesley had shared any of his findings with the vampire.

* * *

Angel came back into the Hyperion's lobby as dawn was beginning to break. It was empty now, with the exception of Xander, sitting on the couch reading. He yawned and looked up as the door swung shut behind Angel.

'Hey,' Angel said. 'Everyone asleep?'

'With the exception of Research Man,' Xander replied. 'He's still hard at it in the office. I couldn't take all the 'hmm', 'interesting' comments, so I came out here.'

'You couldn't sleep?' Angel asked.

'I don't do a lot of it anymore,' Xander said, setting his book aside. 'Bad dreams.'

Angel nodded and moved to the coffee maker to pour a much needed cup. He raised the pot to Xander. 'Want a cup?'

'God, yes,' Xander answered with a yawn.

As Angel handed him the coffee, Xander cleared his throat as if he had something to say. Angel waited.

'I, uh…' Xander started. 'Look, I'm sorry for getting at you earlier, man. It was just a shock, you know?'

'Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't let you know.'

'Hey, I know a little something about the aftermath of losing someone you care about,' Xander told him. 'After Anya died, I took off for a while. Didn't call Buffy or Will for months. Just traveled, trying to forget. It didn't work. The bad dreams stuck with me no matter where I went.'

Angel nodded. 'I know all about bad dreams. I'm kind of dreading going to sleep. After being in that place, I know they're only going to be worse.'

'So what was it like? Fire? Brimstone?'

'Marriage, kid, normal happy life. Bliss.'

'You poor bastard,' Xander remarked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

'Yeah, well, then they were murdered in front of me. Every night. Like some kind of vicious cycle.'

Xander processed this silently for a moment. 'So, what scares you most? Having dreams about them dying, or having dreams about the happy family you never got to have?'

'That's the problem,' Angel confessed. 'I don't know which is worse. But I guess I'm going to find out.'

'The worst for me is when I wake up after dreaming about what life would have been like if I'd married Anya,' Xander told him. 'For a second, I think that it really happened, that my life is like that. Then I remember. And part of me wishes I'd never woken up.'

Angel silently nodded. 'It was Cordy, wasn't it?' Xander asked him.

'What was?' Angel asked, looking up.

'Hey, I may only have one eye, but I'm not blind,' Xander told him. 'And I also know a little something about being smitten with Ms Cordelia Chase. You have that look about you.'

'Am I that transparent? Or do you just see everything?'

'I've been told it's a gift,' Xander replied lightly. 'Dawny was thinking about making me a cape.'

Angel huffed off a light laugh and got to his feet. 'I'd better check in with Giles.'

'Sure,' Xander replied. He paused, his brows knit with a realization. 'Did, uh, did we just have a bonding moment?'

Angel looked back at him with a frown. Then he shrugged it off. 'I won't tell anybody if you don't.'

'Deal,' Xander replied as Giles came out of the office.

'Angel? I have something to show you.'

* * *

Three more members of the Scooby circle were having trouble sleeping. Buffy, Willow and Faith had been sitting up long into the night, discussing Angel's sudden reappearance.

'Do you buy it, Will?' Buffy asked her best friend. 'That he was in hell? Again.'

'I don't know, Buffy,' the witch replied. 'Why would he lie? And, if he wasn't there, then where was he?'

'I'm not saying he's lying. It's just… last time he came back from hell, he was more… feral.'

Faith held up her hands as if to wave Buffy's words away. 'Hey, whoa there, B. What you and tall dark and broody got up to in the day is your own business.'

'Feral, Faith. Not virile,' Buffy said with disgust, rolling her eyes. 'Mind out of gutter for one minute, please.'

'It means he was wild, Faith,' Willow told the dark-haired slayer.

'Hey, they both mean that, Will,' Faith replied with a smirk. 'Anyway, B, maybe this was a different kind of hell. He seems pretty shaken up.'

'Wherever he was, Buffy,' Willow said in a serious tone. 'His return was foretold. We need him in this fight.'

'Right. One of the 'souls of good' that Giles keeps going on about.'

'Angel's the champion,' Willow said. 'The prophecy says the champion, foretold in by Aberjian, who is to 'shanshu'. Whatever than means.'

'Doesn't matter, I guess, except that Giles is sure that it's talkin' about Angel,' Faith said. 'Says Wesley left him really detailed notes about that.'

'I still can't believe he's dead,' Willow said quietly. 'And Cordelia. It doesn't seem real, somehow.'

Buffy nodded. 'I still haven't got my head around the fact that she left Sunnydale to get away from all the supernatural goings on, and ended up working for a vampire.'

'I know! Do you remember when she first found out that Angel was a vampire?' Willow said with a laugh.

_Sunnydale High, October 1997._

_Buffy and Willow were sitting in the girls' bathroom when Cordelia entered. Upon spotting Buffy, her expression became extremely smug. _

'_So, Buffy. You ran off last night and left poor little Angel all by his lonesome,' she told the slayer as she went to the mirror to touch up her ever perfect make-up. 'But I did everything I could to comfort him.'_

'_I'll bet,' Buffy replied, insecure and trying desperately to hide it._

'_So, what's his story anyway?' Cordy went on, taking out her blusher and getting to work on her cheeks. 'I mean, I never see him around.'_

'_Not during the day, anyway,' Willow said with a hint of conspiracy in her voice._

_Cordelia scoffed. 'Oh, please. Don't tell me he still lives at home. Like, he has to wait for his dad to get back before he can take the car?'_

'_Cordelia, I think his parents have been dead for a couple of hundred years,' Buffy told her._

_Cordelia was now touching up her lip gloss. 'Oh, good. I mean...' she stopped, suddenly realizing what Buffy had said. She turned to face them. 'What?'_

_Buffy spelled it out for her. 'Angel's a vampire. I thought you knew.'_

_Cordelia laughed off the statement, obviously not buying it for a second. She turned back to the mirror. 'Oh, he's a vampire,' she said sarcastically. 'Of course! But the cuddly kind. Like a Care bear with fangs?'_

'_It's true,' Willow said with a smirk._

_The brunette cheerleader walked over to them with confidence. 'You know what I think?' she said, crossing her arms in a self-satisfied way. 'I just think you're trying to scare me off 'cause you're afraid of the competition. Look, Buffy, you may be hot stuff when it comes to demonology or whatever, but when it comes to dating, I'm the Slayer.'_

_She turned on her heel and left the room. Buffy watched her go, her own ego deflated yet again by the extremely confident Ms Chase._

* * *

Giles had laid out the scroll, along with his translations, in front of Angel on the desk. He had spent the last ten minutes detailing what he had discovered so far, and was now explaining the specifics of the prophecy.

'As you can see, a large part of the text is about a final confrontation between the powers of good and those of evil. The prophecy speaks of the trinity of evil and the three souls of good.'

'The trinity of evil has got to be the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart,' Angel said. 'But they're eternal. I don't know how anybody could go up against them physically. They're not even on this plane of existence.'

'Well, at the moment, I'm more concerned with identifying the three souls of good. One, I've already identified. You,' Giles told him. 'The scroll speaks of the Champion, the one who it is foretold will Shanshu.'

'The prophecy of Aberjian,' Angel said. 'I take it you've read it, if you know it's about me?'

'I've read Wesley's notes on it,' Giles replied. 'The scroll implies that you will receive your final reward after this final battle.'

'Not anymore,' Angel said. 'I signed it away.'

'You did what?' Giles asked, incredulous. 'You signed away your chance to become human?'

'I had to. It was the only way to get the Circle of the Black Thorn to trust me.'

Giles regarded the ensouled vampire for a moment. He had always underestimated him. He trusted him when he needed to, because of the presence of his soul, because of his love for Buffy, which he never approved of but never doubted. But he never realized the level of Angel's self-sacrifice. What he was prepared to give up in order to fight the good fight.

'What about the other two players?' Angel asked him. 'Buffy and Faith?'

'I'm not sure,' Giles told him. 'References to the second soul are vague. It mentions another prophecy that I don't have access to at present. So far, all I can take from it is the word 'vessel'. But I have translated the reference to the third soul. Does the name 'The Destroyer' mean anything to you?'

Angel jumped to his feet as though a red hot poker had been thrust under him. 'That's definitely what it says?'

'Yes,' he said, picking up the scroll to read the passage. 'Lastly, the holy trinity is complete by the Destroyer. As the Nyazian prophecies have foretold, he will be born out of darkness to bring darkness to the powers of darkness. Swept from this world, his innocence corrupted, restored and ultimately redeemed, he will end the hold of darkness on this earthly plane.' Giles stopped reading and peered at Angel. 'Do you know who the scroll is referring to?'

'Connor,' Angel replied, rushing from the room.

The three girls were coming down the stairs and Angel hurried into the lobby and grabbed his coat.

'Hey Angel, where's the fire?' Faith asked.

'I need to get to Connor,' Angel replied.

'It's kinda sunny out there, Angel,' Willow observed.

'I'll take the sewer tunnels,' the vampire replied. He paused for a moment, considering the situation. 'I might need backup. Faith? You up for it?'

'Five by five, big guy. Let's do it.'

She followed him as he made for the basement. 'Later,' she called over her shoulder to the others.

Buffy and Giles watched them go, matching looks of confusion on their faces. 'Who's Connor?' Buffy asked. Giles shrugged his shoulders, as lost as Buffy. They both looked at Willow, who looked not confused, but somewhat sheepish.

'Um, okay. Kinda meant to tell you this a couple of years ago, but I got side tracked with the whole First Evil, end of the world thing…' she began what would probably be a fairly long story.

* * *

_To Be Continued... Coming up, Father and Son reunited,a familiar face rejoins the group and Giles works out who the third 'Soul of Good' is..._


	5. Gathering Forces

_A/N: Wow! I'm really touched by the response I'm getting to this story. Thank you all so much for the reviews. I hope you continue to enjoy it. Please let me know if you are. Special shout out to 'Kina' - Don't worry, I much prefer the more together, less homicidal version of Connor that appeared in NFA too, so that's who'll be appearing in my story. I did plan on having a big Father-Son reunion in this chapter, and but the story kind of got away from me and I had so much else to get through, so expect a more indepth Father-Son talk in chapter 6. And as for the 'familiar face' who rejoins the group... I ended up pushing that part of the story back a little bit. All good things to those who wait..._

_Now, on with the show..._

_Disclaimer: They're not mine, they're just on loan..._

* * *

The sewer tunnels were dank and cold as always, but neither Angel nor Faith noticed or cared. Angel was too busy worrying about his son. Cordelia's words rang through his head - _'Your son! Remember him? He's still out there and he's going to need your help.'_ Was Connor in danger? Did the Senior Partners know that Connor was part of this latest prophecy? Would they try to get him out of the way? 

Faith, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how to break it to Angel that Buffy still didn't know that he had a son, and that he was probably in for a hissy fit when he returned to the hotel. Faith and Willow hadn't been back in Sunnydale five minutes after discovering Connor's existence, when all hell broke loose – literally. With the arrival of Caleb, the First intensifying its assaults on the slayer lineage, and the smack down battle that turned Sunnydale into a crater, telling Buffy that Angel had a love-child to Darla didn't rank high on their to-do lists. After the fighting was over, they were still of that mindset. After all, what Buffy didn't know wouldn't piss her off.

However, now the game plan had changed. Buffy was most likely going to meet Connor, fight along side him even, so she was going to have to be told. And it was only fair that Faith give Angel a heads up on the matter.

'Hey, uh, Angel?'

'What it is, Faith?' Angel glanced over his shoulder at the brunette slayer. 'You hear something?'

'Nope, I just…' Suck it up girl, she thought. 'Okay, here's the deal. Ever wonder why B never called to rip you a new one cuz you had a kid without telling her?'

Angel stopped in his tracks. 'No, it never occurred to me… I just…' The penny dropped. 'She doesn't know, does she?'

'Not so much.'

'I just figured you or Willow would have told her.'

'Hey, Angel. First Evil, psycho ex-Preacher, not to mention a whole mess of frightened, wanna-be slayers. Any of this ringing a bell?'

'You guys chickened out, didn't you?'

'Look who's talking. You couldn't have called her?'

'Damn,' Angel said, starting to walk again. 'I guess I'd better tell her when we get back.'

'I have a feeling Willow will be doing the honours while we're out,' Faith said with a grin. 'You might wanna duck and cover, though, when we get back.'

* * *

'He did what!' 

'Now, Buffy, let's not overreact,' Willow said, trying to maintain a soothing tone in her voice. Willow had given her friend the abbreviated history of all things Connor, as much as she knew, anyway. Buffy hadn't taken it very well.

'Overreact! You think this is me overreacting! He _slept_ with Darla!'

'_Okay_, not the sanest decision ever,' Willow replied. 'But, big picture, he didn't lose is soul. Not then, anyway…'

'And I thought vampires couldn't have children!'

Giles cleared his throat. 'As concerned as we all may be about the circumstances surrounding Connor's, uh… appearance, there _are_ most pressing issues at hand. Such as the role he is meant to play in the upcoming battle.'

Buffy looked at her watcher with a mixture of annoyance and affection. 'I thought you'd at least be on my side with the major wiggins here.'

'I assure you Buffy; I'm '_wigging_' quite enough about this prophecy. And we really should be getting back to it. I'll sleep a lot easier when we know what is in store for us. Starting with the identity of theremaining soul of good,' Giles told them.

* * *

Angel and Faith reached the bottom rung of an iron ladder leading up into the day. Angel looked up, getting his bearings. 

'This should lead up to the university campus. Go up and see if you can spot Connor. He usually hangs out at the coffee shop or in the library,' Angel told her.

Faith shrugged. 'Sure thing, Angel. But I don't know if anyone's still in college with all this end of the world stuff going on.'

'Well, it's the one place I usually can find him,' Angel replied. 'This doesn't work; I'll have to wait for dark to track him. And I _really_ don't want to wait that long.'

Faith nodded and started to climb. Angel's voice halted her progress half-way up.

'If he doesn't remember you and doesn't want to come with you, get him to meet me at the coffee shop. There's sewer access there.'

'If he doesn't remember me?' Faith looked back at Angel, totally confused. 'Why wouldn't the runt remember me? I kicked his ass, on more than one occasion. That tends to stick in peoples memories.'

'It was a whole thing with a spell, and memories got wiped…' Angel glazed over the events of the past year. 'He's got his memory back now, but he still might be fuzzy on some points.'

Faith shrugged. 'Whatever. Later.'

Angel settled in to wait for her. He didn't have to wait long. Twenty minutes and the slayer was back, shaking her head.

'Place is a ghost town,' she told him. 'Nothing and nobody up there. Do you want me to see if I can track him for you?'

'No offence, Faith,' Angel replied. 'But you don't exactly have the nose for it. We'll have to wait 'til dark.'

* * *

Angel and Faith returned to the hotel to find Giles pacing, with a worried Slayer and Witch looking on. 

'What's happened now?' Angel said. 'Have you worked out who the third person is?'

'No, not yet,' Giles replied. 'Dawn and one of the other girls have gone out to look for an open bookstore. I need more research materials, and as all your books are still at Wolfram and Hart…'

'So what _is_ wrong?' Faith asked. 'No offence, Giles, but you're looking wicked jumpy.'

'I've managed to translate another part of the scroll and, it's not good news, I'm afraid.'

'Let me guess,' Angel said. 'Hordes of demons, scouring the earth, apocalyptic battles, yada yada.'

'I must say, you're remarkably calm,' Giles remarked.

'I just went up against all the beasts Wolfram and Hart could raise from hell, and there were only four of us,' Angel remarked.

'Yes, but you lost,' Buffy countered.

Angel paused, and nodded slightly, any hint of bravado gone. 'What are we talking here, Giles? How big?'

'I don't know exactly. The text is vague,' Giles replied. 'But patrols are noting a marked increase in LA's demon population. And, as Willow has already told you, there are portals arriving here several times a day. The forces of darkness are gathering in LA. It is only a matter of time before they strike.'

'So we better start gathering some forces of our own,' Angel replied. 'How many slayers do you have here?'

'Around 40,' Buffy replied. 'They were the ones who were already nearby.'

'My elite group,' Faith interjected. 'I was training them in Nevada when Willow called me.'

'Where are the rest of them?'

'We've got almost 80 in Europe, where I was based,' Buffy replied. 'And another, what? 60 or so in New York State, training with Kennedy. There are more, somewhere. We're still trying to track them all down.'

'How soon can you get them here?' Angel asked. 'Cause, from the sound of things, we don't have much time.'

'_Less than 200_,' Willow said, worried. 'Against maybe thousands? And we still don't know what exactly is going to happen.'

'We have to try, Will,' Buffy told her friend. 'And just us against maybe thousands are worse odds.'

'I'll call Andrew in Europe,' Giles said. 'And Willow?'

'I'll call Kennedy,' she said with a nod.

* * *

Darkness couldn't come quickly enough for Angel. In the remaining daylight hours the one highlight was a reunion with Dawn, whom he noted had grown several more inches since he last saw her, and now towered over Buffy by almost half a foot. She greeted him with enthusiasm, before quizzing him in depth on Spike and the blonde vampire's year in LA. Angel almost couldn't suppress a chuckle. He had to hand it to Spike – he really had a way with the Summers' women. 

When night finally arrived, he rushed out to meet it. Faith insisted on coming with, along with half a dozen slayers (just in case, she said). LA had become an even more dangerous place than before and it never hurt to have back-up.

It took less than half an hour for Angel to pick up Connor scent. He was nearby. Picking up the pace, he headed towards what he recognized to be Gunn's old neighborhood. At the thought of his friend, Angel felt his spirits droop further. Faith noticed.

'Hey, big guy? You doin' okay?'

Angel didn't answer straight away, but when he did, his voice was full of sorrow. 'I've lost a lot of people, Faith. When you've been around as long as I have, you come to expect it. But never…'

'Never so many people you cared about in such a short space of time?'

'Yeah.'

Before they could say anything else, they heard something up ahead. A fight. Picking up speed, they rushed forward to see if they could help.

More than a dozen vamps surrounded a van. A blonde haired woman was standing in front of the van's door, attempting to shield twenty or more kids, armed only with a cross. However, between the van and the vamps, stood another figure. Even from a distance, Angel recognized him. Connor.

Faith turned to her slayers. 'Slayers! Attack formation,' she ordered. Like a well-oiled machine, they raised their assorted weapons - stakes, axes and swords - and took up position. 'Attack!' Faith yelled, and her miniature army charged.

The vamps looked at each other, taken aback. They had counted on little resistance during this hunting trip. Twenty or more tasty teenagers to snack on, with only their feisty guardian to stand in their way. Then the kid showed up, and they were fairly certain they could handle him. But now the odds were shifting.

The vamps met Angel and the Slayers head-on, but they didn't stand a chance. The white-hats cut through them with ease, dusting one after another. Angel was impressed with how well trained the new slayers were. But then, he would expect nothing less from Buffy and Faith.

A few of the vamps got wise, and broke away from the battle. But they didn't get very far. At the end of the street they ran into a group of street-fighters, heavily armed and looking for a fight. They got one, all be it a fairly short fight. In minutes, all the vamps were dust in the wind.

Now that the chaos had ended, Connor could see who had come to help him. He couldn't believe his eyes. '_Angel?_' he asked, uncertain. 'I looked everywhere for you.'

'I was kinda M.I.A for a while there,' Angel told him. 'Hell dimension.'

'Quor-toth?' Connor asked.

'No, a Wolfram and Hart special,' Angel replied, before clasping his hand on his son's shoulder. 'How are you? What are you doing here?'

'LA was without its champion,' Connor explained. 'I thought I'd better help out. Until you got back. Besides, apparently I'm pretty good at this fighting thing,' he said with a smile.

Faith and some of the slayers were checking on the van of kids. Angel turned and a familiar face caught his eye. 'Anne?'

'Oh my god. Angel?' the blonde woman replied. 'It's been…'

'A while,' Angel replied. 'But Gunn kept me up to date with how the shelter was doing.'

'Where is Charles?' she asked, looking around and not seeing him.

'Yeah, where is my man Gunn?' another voice asked behind them. They turned to see the street-fighters approaching them, weapons lowered, but watching Angel warily.

'Rondell,' Anne greeted the leader of the gang. 'You made it.'

'Sorry we were late, Annie,' he told her. 'There's a lot of demon activity a couple blocks down. Slowed us up. But I see you had help.'

'Yeah. Angel, this is…'

'We've met,' Angel told her before turning to look at Rondell. 'He tried to kill me a couple years back.'

'No hard feelings, vamp,' Rondell said. 'So where is G?'

'He's dead,' Angel said, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. 'A couple of weeks ago.'

'Man,' Rondell said hanging his head. 'How?'

'Big battle. He fought hard,' Angel said. He turned to Anne and Faith. 'You guys need a safe port?' Anne nodded, tears in her eyes at Angel's news. 'Faith, take Anne and her kids back to the hotel. There's plenty of room. You'll be safe there,' he added to Anne.

'What are you going to do?' Faith wanted to know.

'I need to have a talk with Rondell,' Angel told her. 'Me and Connor will meet you back there.'

* * *

An hour later, Angel entered the lobby of the Hyperion to find it bustling. Patrols of slayers were arriving back at the hotel, while other groups gathered weapons and left on patrols of their own. Others were using their down time to train. The Scooby-core, however, were in the office, in serious research mode. 

As he and Connor approached them, Angel could see Buffy watch Connor warily, looking like she had a lot to say but not saying a word. He wondered how hard she was biting her tongue.

'Did you get Anne settled in?' he asked Faith. The brunette nodded.

'Yeah. So is your buddy Rondell going to help us out?'

'How'd you know…?'

'I know how your mind works,' Faith told him with a smile. 'Having been in it for a while…'

'He's thinking about it,' he told the group. 'He's got about 50 in his crew. Good fighters.

So, how's the research going?' he asked Giles.

'The books Dawn obtained for me have been immensely helpful. I think we are very close to discovering who the final 'soul for good' is.'

Connor looked confused. 'You want to fill me in?' he asked. 'Angel said there was something to do with me in another prophecy.'

'Another prophecy?' Buffy said. 'This happen to you a lot?'

'Once or twice,' Connor replied with a nervous grin.

'The prophecy involves three individuals who are destined to go up against, and hopefully destroy, Wolfram and Hart,' Giles explained. 'The first is the Champion, the vampire with a soul.'

'Angel,' Connor observed.

'Yes, the third is a being called the Destroyer, which Angel believes is you.'

'We'll that's how he's referred to in the other prophecy,' Angel explained. 'So, who's the second being?'

'So far, I've managed to translate the word 'vessel', which also can mean 'messenger' in the ancient Proto-Bantu language.'

'Messenger?' Angel asked, alarm-bells sounding in his mind.

Willow nodded. 'Yeah, Angel. You might want to sit down for this. From what I can get from the Proto-Bantu text, which isn't my first language, so bear with me… it says, the messenger who is both blessed and cursed with the _uitstappo_ – the sight.'

'The visions,' Angel said, everything clicking into place. 'Cordelia.'

'I believe so,' Giles replied. 'And if she's present in a prophecy…'

'She shouldn't be dead,' Angel cut him off. 'But she _is_, Giles. She died months ago.'

'She died a _mystical_ death, Angel,' Willow told him. The witch glanced sideways at Buffy. Buffy saw her friend's expression and smiled slightly to put her at ease.

'Willow has a certain amount of expertise at bringing people back from mystical deaths,' Buffy said softly.

'I don't have the urn of Osiris anymore, but in the text, there's something called the 'Breath of Isis',' Willow said excitedly.

'Willow? What are you saying?' Angel said, finally sitting down.

'We might be able to bring Cordy back,' she told him.

* * *

_To Be Continued... Coming Next: Reunions, heart to hearts, battle strategies and lots-a-magic!_


	6. From the Ashes

_A/N : Phew. This one took a while to write. I had a lot of conversations that needed to happen, before we could get to the action ... Thus, this has ended up being a pretty long chapter. But I hope you like it._

_A really big thank you, once again, to everyone who has posted a review for this story. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. It means a lot to know that you guys are reading (and aparently enjoying) the story. Please continue to let me know what you think ... And without further ado..._

* * *

It had been another night of turbulent emotions, and for the second night running, Angel sought solace in the hotel garden. His feelings were coming at him so quickly; he didn't actually know _how_ he felt from one moment to the next. After worrying about his son all day, he was finally reunited with him. Now he had to deal with the fact that Cordelia might be brought back to life, combined with the fact that all three of them, Cordy, Connor and Angel himself, were all part of yet another prophecy regarding the end of the world. Angel was surprised he was still relatively sane.

He heard the door behind him open and close, and didn't turn around as Buffy approached him. He did, however, let out a really big sigh.

'Please Buffy. Not now,' Angel said. 'I've got enough going on without you starting in on me about Connor.'

'Hey, I just came out for some fresh air,' she replied with a grin. Angel replied with a disbelieving look. Buffy sighed. 'What? You expect me to come out here and start yelling about how you had a son with your murderous ex, like some kind of _brat_?' she flashed him a knowing smile, remembering the last time he called her that. 'I _could_ do that. We both know I've had a lot of practice at it.'

Angel rewarded her efforts with a small smile. 'So, you're actually just out here for fresh air?'

'_God, no_. This is LA. There _is_ no fresh air here,' she told him. 'I'm here to see if you're okay. After Will's little bombshell.'

'Honestly?' Angel looked sideways at her. 'I don't know. Do I wish that Cordelia had never died? Of course I do. But bringing her back…'

'Questionable moral ground,' Buffy suggested.

Angel nodded. 'Willow brought you back, and you weren't exactly happy about it.'

'True,' Buffy acknowledged. 'But I was pulled out of heaven. It was my time, and…' Buffy trailed off. She had long accepted that she had been brought back for a reason, and she was grateful that she had been given a second chance to be with her friends and watch her sister grow into a woman. But, every now and then, she felt a pang of loss for the eternal rest that had been hers briefly. 'But this is different, Angel. It _wasn't_ Cordelia's time. If it were, she wouldn't be in that prophecy.'

Angel thought about that for a moment. 'She appeared to me. When I was in hell,' he told her. 'She's the reason I escaped. She told me she needed me to fight, to come back to the real world. Not just for myself and Connor, but for her as well. And she said that the Powers were trying to fix the mess they allowed to happen… You know, with Jasmine.'

'Maybe she already knows,' Buffy said. 'About the prophecy…'

Angel didn't reply, but she could tell he had been thinking the same thing himself. Sensing he needed to be alone with his thoughts, Buffy went back inside.

Angel tried to sort through his turbulent emotions, but memories of the past kept interrupting. He tried to push away the negative and remember only the happy times. There had been some, a lot in fact, amid all the blood and the demons and the fighting. And there was a time when Angel had hoped there would be a lot more happy memories, which he and Cordy would make together. The thought of seeing her again … Maybe he was being selfish, he thought, but he wanted nothing more than to see her again.

Slowly, Angel came to his decision. He'd do what he always did – deal. And, if what Buffy said was right, maybe Cordelia had planned to come back all along. Decision made, he got up from the bench and walked with purpose to a corner of the garden. He knew the spot by heart. Dropping down to his knees, he started to dig.

* * *

Dawn sat on the steps leading down to the basement, trying to concentrate on an ancient Sumerian text, but something was distracting her. She was distracted to the point that, when Xander came down the stairs behind her and put his hand on her shoulder, she jumped out of her skin. 

'Xander!'

'Hey, relax Dawny,' he said with a grin, sitting down beside her. 'Why so jumpy?'

'Jumpy? I'm not jumpy,' she told him, her eyes going back guiltily to her book, to the same line she had been trying to read for half an hour now.

'Oh, I see…' Xander said quietly, looking past her towards the basement's workout room, where Connor was practicing with one of Angel's swords. 'Does someone have a crush on Angel's son?' he teased.

Dawn blushed instantly, but tried to cover. 'I don't know. Do you?'

That shut Xander right up.

'So, what do the ancient Sumerians have to say for themselves?' he asked, deciding it might be safer to change the subject.

Since the destruction of Sunnydale, and even before, Giles had taken it upon himself to train Dawn in the skills and knowledge of the Watchers. With the original Watcher's Council destroyed, and so many Watchers around the world murdered, there had been a danger that the knowledge of the Council would be lost.

However, with so many Slayers now in existence, thanks to Willow's spell, that knowledge was more important than ever. Giles decided, with Buffy, Faith and several other of the slayers' agreement, to begin a new Council, one that worked with the Slayers, gathered knowledge for them, helped them improve their skills, but did not seek to control them, as the old Council had. He had recruited Dawn and Andrew as Watchers-in-training, and now their numbers had swollen to a little over twenty, made up so far mostly of Watcher's who had survived Caleb's culling.

Dawn had been his rising star, learning to read ancient Sumerian, Latin, Greek and even a few demon languages, as well as being trained to fight. She planned to eventually go to university to study Ancient History and Classical Languages, if she could ever find the time between apocalypses.

* * *

Willow and Giles both looked up from their books as Angel walking into the office. He looked sober, but much less shocked and upset than their last glimpse of the vampire. 

'Hey Angel,' Willow greeted him quietly.

Silently, he walked up to the desk she was working at and gently sat an urn on top of it. Willow could see from the clay that still covered it, that it had recently been in the ground. However, as far she could tell, it looked fairly new. Only months old in fact.

Willow couldn't speak, but Giles saved her the trouble. 'Is that… what I think it is?' the Englishman stammered.

'Cordy's ashes,' Angel confirmed. 'I buried them… her, here. She loved this place. I… figured you might need them. For your spell.'

Willow stood and moved a step towards him. 'Are you… okay with this?'

'I…' Angel hesitated. He wanted to be okay with this. He wanted nothing more in the world than to have Cordelia back at his side. But, if doing this harmed her… if she was happy where she was… 'Are you sure? About the prophecy?'

'I've treble checked the reference,' Giles answered him. 'I can see no way in which the translation could be erroneous. But, Angel… if _you're_ not sure…'

'If it wasn't her time… if she's still meant to be here… then bring her back,' he told them.

* * *

When he returned to the lobby, he saw that Buffy was sitting on the couch, keeping a discreet distance, but letting him know she was there for him when he needed her. He was about to join her sitting on the couch when he noticed Anne descending the stairs. 

'Hey,' she greeted Angel. 'Thank you for the safe haven.'

'Are the kids alright?' he wanted to know.

'Pretty shaken up, but they'll be fine.' Anne noticed the blonde woman sitting on the couch and a flash of recognition passed over her face. 'Buffy?'

Buffy looked at the woman for a moment, unsure of where she knew her from. Then it hit her. 'Lily?'

'Yes. Well, it's Anne now, remember?'

'How could I forget?' Buffy smiled. 'God, it's been what… 6 years? And you're working with kids now?'

'That's right. I set up a shelter for teens. 5 years ago now.'

Angel had been watching this exchange back and forth, looking totally confused. 'You two know each other, I take it?'

'We met here in LA, when I ran away from home. The summer you…'

'Oh,' Angel didn't need her to finish that sentence. The summer he went to hell – the first time.

'Buffy actually let me have the name she was using when she was here,' Anne told him. 'Before that I was Lily.'

'And what was it before that… Chartreuse?' Buffy tried to remember.

'Chantarelle,' Anne replied with a grin. 'During my incredibly stupid faze of following that vampire cult…'

The realization suddenly hit Angel. 'I knew I recognized you when we first met!' he exclaimed. 'You were in that bunker in Sunnydale.'

'Yeah, and _you_ were rude and confrontation,' Anne told him with a smile. 'Come to think of it, you weren't any different when we first met here, too.'

'He's like that sometimes,' Buffy remarked, grinning in Angel's direction. 'I think it's all the brooding – makes him short-tempered.'

* * *

Buffy rejoined her friends in the office, having satisfied herself that Angel was in relatively good shape, considering. As ever, Giles and Willow were busy little beavers, bent over their respective books – Giles' being research on the upcoming battle, Willow's being the spell to resurrect Cordelia. 

'So. How are we doing?' she asked them.

Giles looked up from the scroll he had been poring over. 'Both Andrew and Kennedy have reported back. First waves of Slayers will be here tomorrow night. It will be the following day for the rest.'

'Hopefully they'll be in time for the party,' Buffy said, taking a seat. 'What's the ETA on that, by the way?'

'I wish I knew, Buffy,' Giles replied, taking off his glasses and rubbing his tired eyes. 'But the texts are not that specific. The one reference I can find reads…' He put his glassed back on and read from his notes. 'The time of battle will be made known.'

'Geez. Care to vague that up for me?' Buffy shook her head. 'Will? What you got?'

'A very difficult spell and elephants in my tummy.'

Buffy rolled her eyes. 'When are you going to just accept that there isn't a spell alive that you can't work… well, not _alive_, but, you know what I mean … Anyway, you can do it. Right?'

Willow grinned. 'You betcha.'

'You might want to hold back on the optimism there, Will,' Xander told her as he and Dawn entered the office. 'We might have some bad news.'

'Worse than an impending apocalypse?' Giles asked.

Dawn put down the large book she had been reading on the desk in front of Giles. 'If I'm reading this correctly, it says that the upcoming showdown is going to be the big one… Or, _a_ big one… you know what we're like with apocalypses. It describes a battle between the forces of light and dark, in the year following the destruction of the Hellmouth and taking place almost immediately after the breaking of the 'Dark Circle'.'

'The Circle of the Black Thorn?' Giles asked.

'It actually says in there that the Hellmouth would be destroyed?' Buffy asked. 'Wish we had read that a little over a year ago. We wouldn't have been so worried…'

'It also says that the forces of darkness plan on bring hell back to earth,' Dawn told them. Leaning over the book and turning a page, she started to read. 'And in that time, the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart will seek to regain the paradise they once had on earth. And only the three, pitted against the three, will restore the balance.'

'And, by paradise, I'm thinking they don't mean a Starbucks on every corner, and streets paved with chocolaty goodness,' Xander remarked.

* * *

The heft of the steel felt good in his hand. Natural. Connor found it strange, as he swung the sword round, that he remembered training with this very weapon, and others like it, but it was a memory that resembled a dream more than the recalling of actual events. He remembered everything from his former life, at the same time as possessing memories as far back as early childhood from his new life. And, although he knew that the memories from the happy life he now lived were manufactured, they helped him reconcile the pain and confusion he remembered from before. 

He swung the blade again, and was startled when it clashed against steel. Angel stood, grinning, armed with another sword.

'You remember your training?' he asked.

Connor nodded, and matched Angel's grin with one of his own. 'You ready to get your butt kicked?'

'Bring it on, Junior.'

Their sparring was fast and furious, and Angel was impressed with the level of Connor's skill, considering the kid had been living the life of a 'normal' teenager for the best part of a year. He even noticed a couple of moves that he himself had taught him, more than two years ago.

After a vigorous sword fight, Connor broke off and picked up a bottle of water, taking a long drink. Angel noticed the look on his face had changed. Connor looked like he had something on his mind.

'What's up?' Angel asked.

'It's nothing…' Connor started to say, but Angel's disbelieving look stopped him. 'I just… it's Cordelia.'

'Oh,' Angel replied, not really surprised. He sat down on a nearby stool and looked at Connor. 'Okay. Talk to me.'

Connor hesitated, the situation awkward and embarrassing. 'It's just… I remember what happened. Last time I saw her…'

'That wasn't her, Connor,' Angel told him. 'It was something wearing her body…'

'I know, but I _thought_ it was her,' Connor insisted. 'She was practically my mother when I was a baby, and I knew how you felt about her, and I still…'

'That's all in the past now,' Angel cut him off. 'None of it matters.'

'How are you able to forgive me?'

'Because you're my son,' Angel told him. 'And because, everything that happened to you… none of it was your fault. You made some bad choices, but they were because of all those really horrible things that you never should have had to go through…'

'Is that why you erased my memory?' Connor asked, emotion bright in his eyes. 'Gave me a happy family and a normal life?'

Angel didn't speak for a moment. Emotion was building painfully in his chest. Clearing his throat, he looked back at his son. 'I wanted you to have the stability that I never got the chance to give you. I would have given anything to have raised you, given you all the love you deserved. You know that, right?'

Unable to speak, Connor nodded.

'I had to settle for the next best thing,' Angel went on. 'And it's worked, right? You feel more settled? Even though you remember everything… from before?'

'I'm not… as angry anymore,' Connor told him. 'I feel more… at peace? Does that make sense?'

Angel nodded. 'I just wish that I had been the one to give that to you,' he said sadly.

Connor looked at his father and smiled. 'You did.'

* * *

Most of the core group were assembled – Angel, Buffy, Giles, Xander, Dawn, Connor and Willow. Faith and around twenty of the slayers had stationed themselves around the perimeter of the hotel, incase any demons decided to pick this moment to attack. Willow and Giles were both worried that the Senior Partners would somehow find out what they were planning and try to stop them. 

Willow, with Dawn's help, had prepared a sacred circle, with crystals and sand. Everyone now stood holding candles, evenly spaced around the outside of the circle, with the flame-haired witch in its centre.

Dawn had been going around the outside of the circle with incense, blessing it. Finishing her task, she retrieved her own candle and took up position. Willow smiled a thank you at the younger of the Summers women, and picked up a silver Ankh on a chain, which she placed around her neck.

'Symbol of Isis, bless and protect me in the magic I work this night,' she intoned. Then, raising her eyes heavenward, she began:

'I am one with the universe.

I am nothing and I am everything.

I am the stars and the moon

The seas and the storms

The breath of life

The living and the dead.

I call thee down, O my Goddess

To enter my body

And commune with my spirit.

Be with me now as I fulfill my destiny

And work magic

In accordance with your will.

So mote it be!'

A small cauldron rested on the floor in front of the witch. Slowly, she crumbled several herbs into it, chanting softly, which caused blue smoke to rise. Setting her herbs aside, she picked up the urn containing Cordelia's ashes and held it aloft.

'Isis, giver of life, fill me with your power.

I beg of you, do not ignore my supplication!

I implore of you, use your magic to bring the dead to life!

Taken too soon, the messenger of the Powers is needed to fulfill the trinity of good.

Bring her from the ghostly plane to earth!

Haud diutius mortuus , tamen prognatus iterum.

Restituo viator animus ut suus terrenus somes.

(_No longer dead, but reborn. _

_Restore the messenger to her earthly body.)_'

Removing the lid from the urn, she poured the contents into the cauldron. The blue smoke turned white, and became thicker. The air around the circle began to glow faintly. Everyone around the circle could feel the magic flowing around them.

Willow could feel the Power coursing through her. The last time she had experienced anything this powerful had been when she cast the spell to make all the potentials fully fledged slayers. Her breath began to catch in her chest, the rush of the magic speeding up her heart-rate.

'I command you Spirits!

Release her soul to the earthly plane!

Accept my sacrifice,

Seal this magic with my blood!'

Willow grasped a long needle and pricked her finger. Holding her hand over the cauldron, she allowed several drops of her blood to fall into it.

The rush of magic was like an explosion. The air of the lobby crackled and glowed with bright white light and a high wind began, emanating from inside the cauldron itself. The wind whipped at Willow, whose hair had turned the same bright white as the light that filled the room. Gasping for breath, practically hyperventilating from the power she was wielding, she positively glowed.

'So mote it be!' she screamed above the noise of the wind.

As suddenly as it had started, the wind and the light were sucked back into the cauldron at high speed, before the whole thing seemed to implode. Willow was flung from the circle and landed a few feet outside it. The bright ball of light that now filled the circle blinded them all for a moment.

Slowly, the light began to fade, and Angel could make out the silhouette of a woman standing in its place. When the last of the light faded, the beautiful brunette stood and smoothed out her pure white dress.

Cordelia smiled. 'Hi guys.'

* * *

_To Be Continued..._

_A/N: Part of the invocation that Willow uses (the one that begins 'I am on with the universe' is an adaption of a couple of actual Wiccan prayers.) Coming up next chapter: The fighting begins, the slayers begin to arrive and Cordy and Buffy face off._


	7. First Wave

_A/N: Well, its been a busy week, but I finally got this chapter finished - and it ended up being really really long. Something like 4500 - 5000 words in fact. So I split it in two, to prevent eye-strain among my readership, and also to make it look like I'd updated with two chapters this week :-) Chapter 8 will be up momentarily..._

_As always, a HUGE thank you to all who've been taking the time to leave reviews. You guys really make my day. I'd like to take this opportunity to address some of the concerns that havebeenexpressed in the reviews: _

_I know a lot of you are feeling the loss of the rest of the AI team. I miss them too. I've kinda written myself into a corner in this one - on one hand, I know I needed to kill the team so that Angel's issolation was complete at the beginning of the story. On the other hand,I really wish that I hadn't killed them _all_ off (particularly Spike - _Girl version of Chandler, _I couldn't agree more, Spike does bring some much needed comedy to the mix). But I don't want to start bringing everyone back from the dead willy-nilly, cuz I don't think it would be true to the story - one ressurection is enough. Hopefully I'll figure something out by the end of the story... watch this space._

AbiSnocom, _I understand your concern about Cordy seeming to be too happy about being back. But I didn't want to get into it then, at the end of a chapter. Let me put it this way... remember when the vision headaches were killing her (literally) and she hid it from Angel and everyone else for a whole year... the girl is actually a pretty good actress. It's all I'm saying for now, you'll have to read on to see how she's really feeling..._

**Disclaimer: **As ever, I own nothing, I homage everything...

CHAPTER 7: FIRST WAVE

* * *

The streets seemed completely empty, which had become the norm in LA over the past few weeks. Humans no longer went out of their houses after dark. Many had already vacated the city, not willing to stay and face the latest onslaught of evil that had come to town. That made Faith's job easier. If it was out after dark, chances were it was a bad guy.

She did another sweep with her eyes from her vantage point atop the building opposite the garden of the Hyperion. Just then, she saw a flash of bright light coming though the hotel's doors. _There's the fireworks_, she thought to herself. Willow's spell must have worked.

Then another, less obvious, sight caught her attention. Shadows moving across the street, creeping towards the gates of the garden. She had slayers stationed there, but it wasn't them she saw moving. Her slayer speed brought her across the rooftops and onto street level in a flash.

Vampires. And demons. A lot of them. Faith got around behind them, cutting off their escape route, knowing full well that her girls were between the bad guys and the people inside the hotel.

'Hey guys,' she said in her cocky, street-smart voice. 'Sorry, hotel's all booked up. Try the cemetery.'

The demon posse, numbering around twenty, turned and collectively snarled at her. She raised an eyebrow. 'Man, you guys are U-G-L-Y.'

'Slayer!' one of the vampires hissed.

'Can't you count?' Faith replied as five slayers appeared behind the demons and another three arrived at Faith's side. 'Slayer_s_.'

'Not for long,' a cocky demon replied, lunging at Faith. Without blinking, Faith cut him in half with the sword she been carrying.

'Step on up fellas,' she told them. 'Ass whoopins for all.'

The demons attacked, but the highly trained slayers held their own. Faith almost beamed with pride. After a year of training, her girls were a well-oiled machine. Originally she felt like she didn't have anything to offer these girls. She figured she wasn't cut out to be a teacher. But now, she couldn't imagine doing anything else. Well… except slay the occasional demon, she thought as she decapitated another vampire.

* * *

With the Slayers occupied at the back of the building, the second wave of demons made their move on the front door of the hotel. They got within fifteen feet of it, when five more slayers blocked their way. 

The two opposing forces met, hand to hand and sword to sword. While the Slayers were occupied, another wave of vampires flooded passed, intent on getting into the hotel. Jessie, a sixteen year old Slayer whom Faith had recruited six months before, spotted them.

'Hey!' she yelled, decapitating the vamp she'd been battling and moving to confront the new vampires.

'Out of the way, little girl,' one of them sneered at her.

Getting into the battle stance Faith had taught her, she stood her ground. She took down one, then another, before two attacked her at once, one of them landing a lucky kick that deprived her of her sword, and another hitting her with a sucker punch. Winded, one of the vamps grabbed her and snapped her arm as he pulled her roughly towards him. As his fangs headed her way, she snapped her head forward, head butting him. Stunned, he let her go, and she kicked him away from her with a roundhouse.

Cradling her broken arm, she fell back towards the front entrance of the hotel, still trying to stop the vamps from getting inside. Now unarmed and injured, she was no match for them, and her comrades were occupied with a dozen vampires of their own. The vampire in the lead beat her down to the ground with a vicious punch. As one of his cohorts moved in for the kill, the leader stopped him.

'Time for her later. What we're interested in is inside.'

* * *

Cordelia looked around the circle. 'Wow. The gang's all here.' Her face fell as she remembered the several faces she did not see before her. 'Well… sort of,' she said quietly. 

'Cordy,' Angel said, his voice full of wonder and disbelief. 'Are you…?'

'Really here?' she smiled softly.

'Okay?' Angel replied. 'Are you okay? We didn't…' he stopped, glancing sideways at Buffy and then at Willow.

Cordelia knew what he was thinking. 'Pull me out of paradise?' She shook her head. 'Hanging out on a cloud with the PTB is _not_ my idea of paradise. Now if there was sand, cocktails, and the occasional hunky lifeguard…'

That was good enough for Angel. He immediately went to her and threw his arms around her, gathering her up in a tight embrace. She hugged him back with all the strength she could muster.

'Angel,' she smiled.

Before they could say anything else, several vampires burst through the door. Angel immediately put himself between Cordy and them. Buffy and Xander ran to the weapons cabinet.

'Angel! Catch,' Buffy yelled, tossing the vampire a sword, which he caught easily.

Two vampires were already advancing on Willow, who was nearest the door, having been thrown across the room by her earlier spell. They were within striking distance when Willow muttered an incantation under her breath, sending them flying across the room.

As several of the vampires attacked Angel, the windows by the stairs smashed open, and still more vamps poured into the lobby. There were now at least twenty, and counting. Buffy and Xander met the new comers head on, armed with a scythe and an axe respectively.

Giles and Dawn had now armed themselves and flanked Angel, while Willow began to throw fireballs at the attacking vamps. Three had already burst into flames at the witch's hand.

Connor was fighting hand to hand with several vampires, allowing himself to get swept up in the action. He found that if he thought too much about it, he would begin to lose confidence in his fighting abilities. When he gave into instinct, he found he reacted better and could anticipate his enemy's next move.

He knocked one vamp back with an impressive roundhouse kick, using the space that afforded him to reach into his pockets and draw out two stakes, one for each hand. Blocking a number of kicks and punches sent his way by the attacking vamps, he staked two at once. Several more vamps stepped up to take their place.

Angel decapitated two vamps with one swing, still keeping in front of Cordy. Already she was becoming frustrated with his efforts to protect her. Hadn't he trained her to fight? Hadn't she done this a whole bunch of times? Groaning in frustration, she side stepped her vamp in shinning armor and ducked an attacking vampire, circling the front desk to grab a sword she had spotted on a nearby desk.

Giles was fighting a vampire whom he was fairly certain was a champion fencer before he was turned. His skill was impressive, but Giles was pretty handy with a sword himself. He was beginning to get the upper hand in his fight, when he was hit across the back of the head by an unseen attacker.

Dazed, he looked up to see two vampires now bearing down on him. Before he could defend himself, one exploded into dust when Dawn staked him from behind. The second was taken out by a ball of fire that Willow had sent his direction.

Giles smiled at both girls, before getting to his feet to rejoin the fight.

Buffy was cutting through the attacking vamps with ease, her scythe feeling as natural as ever in her hands. But for ever vamp she slayed, another one came through the window. It seemed like Wolfram & Hart were throwing everything at them. They were good. But she was better.

Xander wasn't doing so badly himself. The weight of the axe felt reassuring in his hands, and he had already used it to bring down a couple of vamps. As ever, he had Buffy's back, and he wasn't about to let her down.

Angel spotted Cordy coming back out of the front office, armed.

'Cordy, lock yourself in the office 'til this is over!' he yelled to her, cutting down another opponent.

'Yeah, right,' she replied, staving an attack from a vamp of her own, before plunging her sword into his stomach. While he yelled in pain, she put a stake through his heart and watched him explode into dust. 'You think just because I've been cooling my heels up in heaven, I'm going to do the same down here? You got another thing coming, buster.'

Letting a grunt of frustration out of him, Angel went to work on two vamps that were between him and the feisty brunette. He made an easy job of them and had soon made his way to her side.

'I just got you back, Cordy,' he told her angrily. 'I don't want you getting hurt…'

Whatever else he was going to say was cut short by the sword that an attacking vampire had plunged through him. As he fell to his knees in pain, Cordy swung her own sword, cutting off the vamp's head. She looked down at Angel, her face panicked.

'Angel! Are you okay?'

'Just peachy,' he replied with a grimace, in pain but obviously not badly wounded, for a vampire anyway.

Rolling her eyes, she offered him her hand to help him back to his feet. 'I think we need to worry more about you getting hurt than me, at the moment. Pay a little more attention to the fight, and a little less to me for now. Okay?'

Angel's eyes went wide. 'Cordy! Look out!'

Cordelia turned to see four vampires lunging at her at once. Raising her sword to protect herself, she felt panic run through her.

Suddenly, she felt the familiar prickling sensation all over her body that usually accompanied her glowing demon powers. Her entire body took on an ethereal glow as light shone from every pore.

'Oh boy,' she muttered.

* * *

Faith sent the last of her opponents back to hell and looked around her group of fighters with a smile. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, they were in good shape. 

'Good work…' she started to say, when the sound of fighting caught her ears. It sounded like it was coming both from the front of the building, as well as inside it. 'Damn. Kristy, Mandy, Steph, Beth and Jane. Back up the watch at the front of the hotel. The rest of you with me.'

* * *

The four remaining slayers standing at the front of the hotel were now backed into a corner, trying to protect Jessie who was unconscious at the foot of the hotel's steps. Ten vampires surrounded them; cockily believing that victory was soon at hand. 

They hadn't counted on the five slayers who rounded the building towards them. Or the bus load of them that pulled up seconds later.

'Oh shit!' one vamp exclaimed, as at least thirty slayers, lead by Kennedy, ran towards them.

* * *

The glow from Cordelia filled the entire lobby with light. The Scoobies all looked on, squinting from the brightness, completely surprised and amazed. 

When the glow faded, the four attacking vampires, along with another six vamps who were nearest to the part-demoness, were nothing but piles of dust.

'Woah,' she breathed.

Xander, rendered temporarily spellbound at the sight of Cordelia's power, didn't see the vamp's fist until it was too late. Next thing he knew, he was sprawled on the floor, trying to raise his axe to defend himself. Willow saved him the trouble, and another vamp met his end at her hand.

The remaining five vamps decided to cut their losses and made for the back door. They ran headlong into Faith and her three fellow slayers, who arrived in time to see the light-show. The retreating vampires were dust in the wind in a matter of seconds.

* * *

The assembling forces of good were gathered in the hotel's lobby. Around an hour had passed since the battle and people were finally starting to wind down. Willow and Kennedy sat, wrapped in each others arms, on the couch. Meanwhile, the minor injuries were being tended to by Dawn and, despite Angel's protests, Cordelia. 

'Angel, stop fussing,' she had told him. 'I'm fine. And I _have_ had a lot of practice at this. Remember?'

Considering the size of the battle, they had gotten off pretty cheap. Mostly it was just cuts, bruises and some minor flesh wounds. Jessie was the worst injured, with a broken arm and a concussion. After she had patched her up as best she could, Dawn had insisted that Giles take the girl to the hospital. Faith and two other slayers had gone with them, just in case.

Angel, Connor, Buffy and Xander now stood near Willow and Kennedy, discussing the arrival of the slayers, while Angel frequently glanced over at Cordy, half expecting her to have disappeared from one moment to the next.

Kennedy was explaining how her group had flown to Phoenix, Arizona, and had hired a bus from there. 'We were the first wave. I divided the rest of my girls into two teams of 15, going to either Dallas or Vegas to meet groups of slayers coming from Europe,' she told them. 'When I spoke to Andrew, he said he was sending girls to a bunch of different airports, to hopefully stay under the Senior Partners' radar.'

'That's smart,' Buffy remarked on Andrew's plan, unsuccessfully concealing her surprise.

'The rest of the girls from Europe are flying to San Francisco and San Diego,' Kennedy went on. 'Everyone should have arrived by tomorrow evening at the latest.'

'Then what?' Xander wanted to know. 'Do we have a plan yet?'

'Not as such,' Buffy told him. 'But we will… Right Angel?' she asked the brooding vampire, snapping his attention away from the brunette across the room and back to the discussion he was supposed to be part of.

'Sorry. What were we talking about?' Angel asked, looking around the group.

'Just go talk to her, Angel,' Buffy told him.

Angel pretended he didn't hear her. 'So we'll have around 180 slayers here by tomorrow night,' he said. 'And hopefully by dawn we'll have around another 50 on our team.'

'That guy Rondell?' Connor asked.

'Yeah,' Angel replied. 'He's none to fond of me, but he fights the good fight – most of the time. And he was a friend of Gunn's. He won't want Wolfram & Hart taking over this city anymore than we do. I think his team will come on board.' He thought for a moment. 'But I don't know if it's going to be enough.'

* * *

_To Be Continued... In mere moments, in fact..._


	8. Painful Memories

CHAPTER 8: PAINFUL MEMORIES

_warning : Flashback city approaching..._

* * *

Cordelia had excused herself from the lobby as soon as she could, and went to lie down in one of the hotel's many rooms. Now she lay there, sobs wracking her body, tears streaming down her face. She hadn't wanted the others to see her upset, hadn't wanted to break down in front of Buffy and Xander and the others. It was partly because she didn't want to lose face. But mostly, she didn't want Angel to worry about her. She knew there was more than enough to be worried about, without adding her to the mix. 

She would just lie there, in the dark, until she felt strong enough to face everyone again. Only problem was, she didn't know how long that would take. She felt such a hole inside of her, an emptiness. The world had changed. People she had loved were gone. Now she was back, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

On top of that loss, she felt a sickness, rising from her stomach and through her entire body. The memories of everything Jasmine had done when she inhabited her body flooded her mind. She could remember everything, been forced to watch as she tore the people she loved apart, manipulated them and broke their hearts.

'_Were we in love?'_

'_We were…'_

Her voice. Her words. But a lie. An ugly lie to set the wheels in motion that would pit father against son. And the cruel words that had followed, the explanation…

'_I remember seeing you… your past… when you were Angelus.'_

'_I never tried to hide who I was or what I've done. You already knew,' he replied. That was true, but still the guilt and shame were present in his voice. She knew, but most of the time, he wished she didn't._

'_Knowing's different than living it,' she had cruelly replied. 'When I was up there, I could look back and see everything you ever did as Angelus. More than see. I felt it. Not just their fear and pain. I felt you and how much you enjoyed making them suffer.'_

The thought of those words brought fresh tears to her eyes now. True, she knew. She knew it all. But it hadn't mattered. She knew he was a different person back then. And letting him believe otherwise… letting him think that she couldn't love him because of his past… That she could move on, to find solace in the arms of his son…

She remembered standing next to Connor, in the attic of the Natural History Museum, the night the rain of fire had come to LA. Well, not remembered as in actually being there, but she had watched it all from her lofty vantage point, unable to do a damn thing to stop the imposter seduce Connor, the boy she had thought of as her own son.

'_What's happening?' Connor had asked her. _

'_I don't know.' _

'_It's him, isn't it? It's that thing,' Connor asked, referring to the Beast and blaming himself. _

'_We don't know that,' she, the imposter, had replied. _

'_I should've tried harder. I should've stopped it.'_

_The fake Cordelia shook her head. 'It was too strong. This isn't your fault.' _

_The boy didn't believe her. 'What if it is? What if that thing is… it chose the place where I was born. Is that why it's here… because of me?' _

The thought of the fear in his voice, nearly two years ago, still made Cordelia's heart constrict.

'_No,' the imposter had insisted._

_Connor shook his head. 'I was never supposed to happen. The child of two vampires. What if…'_

'_Connor, it's not you.'_

'_You don't know that.' _

'_Yes, I do. In my heart,' she touched his face then, brushing his hair away. 'It's not you, baby. It's not you. Not you.'_

_Using the hand she had used to brush hair from his face, she pulled Connor's face closer and kissed him first tenderly, then passionately on the lips. When the kiss ended, Connor was stunned._

'_Why… why did you…?'_

'_Because I don't think it matters anymore. I know how you feel about me, Connor. When I think about what you've…' she touched his face tenderly once more. 'You never had a childhood, or a family or friends or anything that's real, and if this is the end, I want you to have something that is.' _

_She put his hand on her waist and they embraced, kissing each other passionately._

Cordelia's blood ran cold with the memory… and with the memories all the other times Connor had been manipulated by her face. She heard the voice, her own voice, gently convincing Connor to kill his own father,

'_You have to kill your father. You have to. Now. Before anything else goes wrong. You know I have fought harder than anyone to save Angel's life but there comes a time when you have to weigh risk versus reward … killing Angelus now is the only way to guarantee our family's safety… We're special, Connor.'_

A gentle tapping on the door brought her out of her thoughts and made her hand dart to her face to try and brush her tears away. If anyone saw her now, they'd know she'd been crying. Thinking fast, she decided to feign sleep until whoever it was went away.

'Cordy?' Angel asked softly, coming into the room behind her. 'Hey… Are you sleeping?'

When Cordelia didn't move or say a word, Angel assumed that she was fast asleep and started to close the door. Before it had shut the whole way, he thought he heard something very like a sob – soft, muffled, but definitely a sob. Slowly edging back into the room, he moved towards the bed.

'Cordy?'

Still she didn't answer. She screwed up her eyes against the tide of tears that were attempting to break her dam. She didn't want him to see her like this.

Something told Angel not to go the whole way round the bed to confront Cordelia. Instead, he sat on the other side of the bed, allowing her to keep her back to him. She would talk to him when she was ready and, knowing the level of Cordy's stubbornness, not a moment before.

Having him that close to her was torture. Part of her wanted to seek comfort in his arms. The other part of her felt shame at the actions of her past, whether or not they were in her control. She tried to focus on a more positive memory, one that might sooth the pain she felt inside.

_'Boy, I really do fall for the dumb ones. You know how you're always trying to save, oh, every single person in the world? Did it ever occur to you, you were one of them?' she had told him several months before, when the Powers had let her come back briefly. _

_'No, it never did,' Angel replied truthfully. _

_'Well, you made the list, gorgeous. And you needed some help.' _

_'And you were the one that helped me.' _

_'I did my part,' she replied, sitting at his side. _

_'Lindsey wasted a lot of energy trying to make me doubt myself. I know it's not even close to over, but I do feel like I can do this. Wolfram & Hart, whatever's coming, I feel like we can beat it.' _

_'I know,' she had told him. _

_'You do?' _

_'I always did. I... I just needed you to know it, too.' _

_'So all that stuff about the deals with the devil...' _

_Cordelia nodded. 'Was God's honest truth.' She looked at him. 'But you're bigger than that. You'll win this in the end.' At that, she had stood up and moved away from him, to conceal the tears that now formed in her eyes. 'I, uh... just wish I could be there to see it.' _

_'What do you mean? You're not...' _

_She turned back to face him. 'I can't stay. This isn't me anymore. You can say good-bye to the gang for me, explain everything once you understand.' _

_'That's gonna be never,' he told her as he walked towards her. 'I need you here.' _

_She could make no effort to hide her tears now. 'Don't make it hard, Angel. I'm just on a different road... and this is my off-ramp. The Powers That Be owed me one, and I didn't waste it. I got my guy back on track.' _

_'Cordy, there's just…' _

_'We take what we can get, champ, and we do our best with it,' she told him as she touched his face gently. 'I'll be seeing you.' _

_She smiled through her tears, and turned to walk out of the office. At the last moment she stopped, turned around and walked quickly towards Angel. _

_'Oh, what the hell. One for the road?' she told him as she kissed him passionately, letting him know how much she truly had loved him… And transferring her visions to him as her parting gift. _

They remained like that for a long time, Angel sitting patiently whileCordy allowed the tears to flow freely down her face, no longer able to control them. Every now and then, a soft sob escaped her throat, despite her best efforts to stop it.

After a while, Angel couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stand seeing Cordelia in so much pain.

'You remember one of the last things you said to me in Wolfram & Hart?' he asked her quietly, as if he had read her mind. 'You said that you'd got me back on track. That you knew I'd win this in the end… And that you wished you could be here to see it…'

He reached out, placing his hand on her quivering shoulder.

'Well, you're going to be here to see it now, Cordy,' he told her. 'We're going to do this. Together. And everything else… anything else that's bothering you. We'll figure out. Together.'

His words toppled the last of Cordelia's defenses. Sobbing aloud now, she turned and buried her face in his shoulder, her tears staining his shirt, clinging to him like a frightened child. He reached around her with both his arms, holding her tightly to him, whispering words of comfort into her hair.

'Hey, it's okay, Cordy. It's going to be okay,' he told her, not really knowing if it would be. He felt so hopeless in the face of her despair. She had seemed fine – her old self – right from the moment they brought her back. Had that all been an act, or had something happened to bring this on?

After several minutes of raw, desperate sobbing, Cordelia's crying slowed. The tears kept coming, but her breathing had calmed considerably. From the depths of his shoulder, Angel heard her say, 'I'm sorry.'

'You don't have anything to be sorry for.'

She drew her face away from his body and looked at him, her eyes red and swollen. 'I didn't want you to see my like this.'

'Cordy, talk to me,' he gentle asked. 'What's wrong? Are you… are you sorry we brought you back.'

'No,' she insisted immediately. 'That's not… I just…' She paused, finding it difficult to find the words. 'I wanted to come back. That's been the plan for a while now… I just didn't expect to feel so… overwhelmed.'

'It's only natural,' Angel replied.

'So much has changed… I just can't believe…' she stopped and sat up, looking at Angel sadly. 'I can't believe they're gone.'

Angel lowered his head slightly, nodding. He knew that Cordelia was the only one in the building who could appreciate the magnitude of their loss. Almost their entire family was gone now.

'And, all the people… I've been keeping my own company on a cloud for the best part of two years, and coming down to a hotel full of teenage girls… not the most soothing experience.' She looked away from him, the third thing that was bothering her was the most difficult to express. 'And then there was seeing you again… and Connor.'

Angel said nothing, just waited to see what she would say.

'After everything I did to you… both.'

'You didn't do anything, Cordy,' he insisted, placing his hand under her chin and turning her face to look at him. 'That wasn't _you_.'

'Maybe not, but…' she took a breath, 'it was still my fault. I _chose_ to become a higher power. I gave Jasmine the opportunity to take over my body and…'

'You couldn't have known what would happen,' he told her firmly. 'I'm not going to let you blame yourself for anything that happened with Jasmine. She fooled us all.'

'Angel,' Cordelia almost smiled at his bossy tone, 'don't fool yourself into thinking that you can just order me not to feel guilty. We both know a little something about atonement and past guilt. It's… it's something I'm going to have to work through.'

Angel gave her a small smile. 'We'll then, we can just work through it together.'

Finally, Cordy smiled back at him. It was like a breath of cool clean air to Angel's unused lungs, and if his heart had been beating, he was certain that its pulse would have sped up. He wiped away the last of the tears on her face. She reached up and touched his hand.

'I guess I just need my purpose back. And to do that… well, you have something of mine…' She whispered as she closed the gap between them, kissing him softly. A faint blue glow passed between them as she drew away once more.

'Wow. That was…' Angel whispered. Then the realization dawned. 'You just took your visions back, didn't you?'

'Uhuh,' she smiled. 'Not that the method of transaction wasn't an added bonus.'

Angel looked confused. 'If I've had them all this time, why did I only get that one vision?'

'About the Circle of the Black Thorn? Because I sent that one to you. But the visions were never meant to be yours, Angel. And, with everything going on in the past few months, you didn't need the distraction. You were just looking after them for me. And thank you for that,' she said as she touched his face lightly. 'Now, we should probably get back down to command central.'

She got up off the bed and moved to the door, holding out her hand to Angel to hurry him up. Quick as a flash he was at her side, taking her hand and pulling her towards him.

'They can wait a few more minutes,' he told her, as he drew her into another, deeper kiss.

Cordy felt herself melt into him. His kisses were a soothing balm to her soul, making her body come alive again in his arms. The spark of who she was, the passion, the vibrancy of her former life, took shape within her once more. The sadness was still there, but the emptiness less so.

She had missed him so much. It had killed her, sitting up in the higher realm, watching him moving on with that girl Nina. But, however much it had hurt her to see him with her; Cordelia knew he didn't love the she-wolf.

Buffy, however, was a different matter.

* * *

'What was the deal with the glowy thing?' Xander asked the group. Most of the slayers had gone upstairs for some rest, others were on patrol with Faith. Buffy and Dawn, Willow and Kennedy, Giles and Xander were now the only remaining people in the lobby. 

'I don't know,' Buffy replied, just as puzzled. 'Willow?'

'No one mentioned it to me,' the flame-haired witch replied with a shrug. She looked at Giles.

'I'm as in the dark as the rest of you,' the Watcher replied. 'Wesley's journals gave no mention of that. Levitation. Painless, vivid visions. But he wrote nothing over such a powerful side-effect to Cordelia becoming part-demon.'

'And that was a lot of power,' Dawn remarked. 'She took out ten vamps without lifting a finger.'

'Must be why she's one of the three chosen warriors for good,' Kennedy commented, having been brought up to speed by Willow. 'Girl's packing some serious mojo.'

Buffy was miffed by the comment. More than once she had wondered why it was Cordelia, and not her, that was part of the prophecy. 'I still can't believe that Cordy's a …' she started, the disbelief mingled with disdain.

'Higher Power?' Cordelia asked, as she and Angel walked down the stairs, hand in hand. 'Or Part-demon?'

'Well, I'd always suspected it,' Buffy shot back, more annoyed than she'd like at the sight of Angel and Cordelia holding hands. 'The demon part, that is…'

'Ha ha,' Cordy replied dryly. 'Are we going to start this crap now, Buffy? Cuz if so, let's get it over with. We've got more important things. Dark things are coming…'

'I'm not starting anything,' Buffy replied. 'And I know what's coming. I've been here the whole time, planning and…'

'While I've, what? Been taking a cat nap?' Cordelia snapped. 'Sitting on a cloud having my nails done?'

'Wouldn't surprise me…' Buffy said under her breath.

'Buffy,' Angel warned. 'Enough.'

'No, Angel,' Cordy told him. 'If little Miss Likes-to-Slay has something to say, I'd like to hear it. What's the problem, Buffy? The fact that I'm in the prophecy or the fact that Angel's standing at my side and not yours?'

Bullseye. Direct hit. Buffy's face reddened with barely suppressed fury.

'You know, Cordy, I thought that death would have mellowed you out a little,' Buffy said angrily. 'Softened your bitchier side.'

'Why? It didn't do anything for you,' Cordelia snapped back.

Both women glared at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing. Everyone else just looked on in confusion.

'Okay, that got that out of our system…' Cordelia started to say. Suddenly, she was levitating inches of the ground in the midst of a vision. 'Angel?'

'What is it, Cordy?' he asked the Seer. 'What do you see?'

'West Hollywood. A bar - Il Taverna. You'd better take Connor and Buffy,' she told him, coming back down to earth and looking directly at him. 'An old friend is in trouble.'

* * *

_To Be Continued... That well known face from the past I promised several chapters ago will finally make an appearance... And the forces of good make ready for war..._


	9. Allies

_A/N: Sorry for the slight delay - end of term, much work to be done. This is a slightly shorter chapter than last weeks. I'm still trying to get all the players together so we can get to the action. No flashbacks this chapter, but plenty of references to past episodes of both Angel and BTVS._

_Please, please, please read and review - otherwise I might misplace my muse... _

* * *

Cordelia swung the sword again, trying to get a feel for it. Two years on a higher plane and she still remembered everything Angel had taught her, but she felt rusty. She should probably ask him to train with her again before the impending big fight. Apart from anything else, it would mean getting to spend some time alone together…

And that in itself was confusing as hell. A part of her wanted nothing more that to pick up from where they were headed two years ago, on the cusp of what promised to be an incredible, if somewhat complicated, relationship. And judging by the way Angel had kissed her earlier, he felt the same way. At the same time, she knew that nothing he had said or could say would lessen the huge weight of guilt she still felt over everything that had happened since she ascended to be a higher being. That, combined with all their others problems – namely that he was a 251 year old vampire, cursed with a soul that he'd lose if he got too happy – was not exactly the makings of a storybook relationship.

And then there was Connor. Cordy didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive herself for what he had been put through. She knew if probably wasn't the most sensible of options, but she had been avoiding him since she's been back. She was really not looking forward to the conversation she needed to have with him.

_Focus Cordy_, she told herself. If she focused on her training, maybe her brain would stop working overtime, even for only 5 minutes. 5 minutes without over analyzing everything she had been through would be bliss.

She suddenly sensed someone behind her. Swinging the sword around, she stopped it mere inches from Xander Harris' neck. He held up his hands in surrender.

'Geez, Cordelia. I'd hate to get you mad at me _now_,' he told her, a slightly fearful expression on his face.

Cordy smiled and lowered the sword. 'You shouldn't sneak up on someone when she's wielding a sword,' she told him.

'You're pretty good with that. Angel trained you?'

'Yeah,' she smiled at the memory of their past training sessions. 'I made him. I got tired of staving and waiting for Mr. Tall, Dark and Vampy to swoop in and save me.'

Xander nodded and took a seat at the edge of a nearby table. 'So, uh… how are you doing, Cordy?' he asked hesitantly.

'I'm okay. Still… adjusting, I guess.'

'Well, it takes time. But … we're all glad your back among the living,' he told her.

'Even Buffy?' Cordelia raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

'I'm not saying there's not going to be the occasional appearance of a certain green-eyed monster, but… it's all going to be alright, you know?'

'Assuming the up coming big scary doesn't kill us all.'

'And on that cheery note…' Xander smirked. 'So you're a demon, huh?'

Yep… part of me anyway.'

'I should have known… Willow always said I was a demon magnet – makes sense that my only human ex-girlfriend would end up being one too,' he said with a laugh.

'Funny, Harris,' she replied.

'Seriously, though. You've changed – a lot,' he told her. 'You've grown into a hell of a woman Cordelia Chase.'

'Well, you didn't turn out so bad yourself,' she replied. 'And the eye-patch – it's a look…' She sat down on a chair opposite him.

'So… you and Angel, huh?'

'I was wondering how long it'd take before you brought _that_ up.'

'How'd I do?'

'About three seconds longer than I thought.' She gave a small laugh and rolled her eyed. 'Okay, so, get it over with. Is this going to be like the little speeches you used to give Buffy, cuz if so…'

'He loves you.'

Cordelia opened her mouth in surprise. 'Okay… didn't see _that_ coming.'

* * *

Angel, Buffy and Connor arrived at the bar in Cordy's vision only to find it surrounded by demons.

'Great. Thirty, at least…' Angel said.

'You'd think Cordelia would have told us a little detail like that,' Buffy remarked sourly. 'Kinda important.'

'She only sees what the Powers let her see, Buffy,' Angel snapped back.

'We need back up, is all I'm saying,' she replied. Reaching into her pocket, she took out her cell phone and hit speed dial. 'Hey Faith. You anywhere near West Hollywood? ... Good. We need back up… 86th and West. Il Taverno. Get here as soon as.'

'So, what now?' Connor asked as Buffy ended her call. 'Do we wait for Faith?'

Angel looked back towards the bar and saw the demons starting to move in. He shook his head. 'No time. We just better hope Faith gets here soon. Come on.'

With that, he was out of the alley and across the street. Buffy and Connor looked at each other, and with a resolute shrug followed him into the fray.

* * *

'Do you remember what I was like when I left Sunnydale?' Cordelia was asking.

'Remember? I still have the scars!' Xander joked in reply.

Cordelia laughed and rolled her eyes. 'God, I had such big dreams. I was going to be an _actress_. I was going to be famous and rich and marry some incredibly wealthy media mogul with his own TV network.'

'Well… zero out of three is… pretty bad, actually.' Xander took a good look at the woman in front of him and really took stock of how much she had changed. 'You really don't care about any of that any more, do you?'

'No, I don't,' she replied, a little surprised herself. Then she cocked her head to one side, reconsidering. 'Well, the money would be _nice_… but I had a chance at all that, a chance to be rich and famous. And I gave it all up.'

'For Angel.'

'Yeah… crazy, huh?'

'Just a little bit,' Xander replied with a smile. 'But no less amazing.'

'If this is the part where you get all gushy and start trying to take back all the mean things you said when we were at school, you can forget it, buster…'

Xander shook his head. 'I wouldn't dream of it. I meant every word.'

'Thanks a lot.'

'But I said them to a different girl,' he told her in a soft tone. Catching himself before he became too sentimental, he went on, 'and besides, I seem to remember some choice remarks from you too.'

'Like when I called you a loser?' she grinned.

'Which time?'

'And when I call you the Zeppo?'

'Uh huh.'

'And when I called you Xander "I'm as stupid as I look" Harris?'

'Okay, now you're just trying to make me feel all warm and fuzzy…'

'Oh, like you did when _you_ called _me_ a hooker?'

'I never…'

'_You told me_ I dressed like a hooker.'

'Well… sometimes…'

'Xander Harris, please remember that I am not only a part-demon who's trained in combat, but I'm also armed at the moment!'

Xander held up his hands in surrender. 'Hey, I didn't say I was _complaining_ about the way you dressed…' he laughed.

* * *

Unholy hell was breaking out inside the bar as Angel, Buffy and Connor pushed, punched and staked their way through the front door. Expecting to see helpless humans being attacked by the big scaries, they were surprised to be confronted with a bar full of demons – some attacking and some defending themselves.

Looking around the room as he staked another couple of vamps, Angel spotted several Lister, Kwaini and Anomovic demons – all of which Angel knew were non-evil and, in two out of three cases, balancing demons. His heart constricted as another breed of demon came into view – at least half a dozen members of the Brachen clan. Thoughts of Doyle assaulted his mind.

'Um, Angel?' Connor's voice interrupted his thoughts. 'How are we meant to tell which demons to kill and which to help?'

'Yeah. Don't you make them wear black or white hats in this city,' Buffy enquired as she decapitated a vampire and move on to the next. 'Or at least lapel pins?'

'Lay off the blue pin-cushiony ones, the red scaly ones, the grey wrinkly ones and the one's who look like crazy, homeless people. The rest are fair game,' Angel told them quickly.

'Check,' Buffy replied, continuing with her slayage.

Angel, Connor and Buffy worked their way steadily through the chaos, aided by the fact that, initially at least, the marauding demons were too busy going after the balancing demons to realize that the three champions had arrived. But they caught on soon enough.

A Kailiff demon turned in time to see Angel swinging a sword at him. As the blade imbedded in his chest, he managed to yell out a warning to his fellow demons.

'Angel!'

The twenty or so demons that were still standing collectively turned and snarled at the three figures near the door.

'So, they know who _you_ are,' Buffy remarked, sizing up the competition.

'Fame's a bitch,' Angel quipped as the demons readied themselves to charge.

Just then, Faith and ten other slayers appeared behind them.

'Someone start the party without me?' Faith wanted to know.

Buffy and Angel glanced at the brunette slayer and grinned. Turning back towards their demon foes, they charged.

* * *

Cordy and Xander were ascending the stairs from the basement went a large number of heavily armed fighters came through the door. Xander raised his axe to defend Cordelia. Cordy however kept her weapon ready, but by her side, as she approached the leader of the group.

'Rondell? If you've come to take hostages again, I can promise you I'm gonna kick your ass.'

'Easy there Barbie,' Rondell replied. 'You're boss asked me here.'

'No one but Gunn ever got away with calling me that,' Cordy told him coldly. 'Do it again, and we're going to have a problem. Angel asked you to come?'

'Said you might need a little help. Not that helping a _vampire_ is my idea of a good time, but if evil's gonna get an ass whoopin', I want a piece of that action.'

* * *

With the odds now considerably stacked in their favor, the white hats had soon either killed or chased off the attacking demons. The good-guy demons that were left were in varying states of injury, and there had been three fatalities – one Kwaini and two Anomovic demons had died in the attack. Rieff, one of the Lister demons stepped forward to greet their rescuers.

'Angel,' he said, gratitude in his voice. 'We'd just about given up looking for you.'

'Looking for me?' Angel was confused. Still, the demon, who was maybe 20 years old, looked familiar to him. 'Do I… Rieff?' Rieff nodded. 'Shouldn't you be on an island off the coast of Ecuador or something?'

'We were. But the Scourge came for us – six months ago. We fled, but they kept coming,' Rieff told him, hanging his head. 'We lost many of our clan. So we came back here, looking for you.'

'Probably not the best time to come back to LA,' Buffy remarked. 'It's not the safest of places to be right now.'

'Nowhere is safe,' Rieff replied. 'But if we are to survive, we need to be here. Helping you to fight. We arrived two weeks ago and couldn't find you. We received word of a huge battle and feared you had been lost. But your friend told us that you were still alive, that your destiny wasn't over.'

'My friend…?' Angel asked, confused once more.

'Hello Angel-cakes,' a familiar voice greeted him from the other end of the room.

* * *

_To Be Continued..._

_A/N: Angel's age is a controversial subject - I calculated 251 from the fact that he was sired in 1753 and this is set in 2004 (the final episode aired on the 19th of May 2004, so this is set around early June of 2004). _

_In case I lost you with my neverending list of demons (I think thats enough to be going on with for the moment...) the **Listers** were the demons Doyle saved in 'Hero', the **Kwaini** were the ones who were addicted to that mystical drug in 'The Prodical' (but were described by Wesley as 'balancing demons, utterly non-violent'), the **Anomovic** demons are the family that Doyle's ex-wife was going to marry into (before they tried to eat his brains, of course - that might be seen as evil (obviously) but i think technically they're not meant to be really 'evil' evil), and of course Doyle was half-Brachen demon._

_As for the final demon that appeared... I think you can all guess who it is..._


	10. The Deep Breath

_Author's Note: Again, I am sorry about the delay. Crazy times, people, crazy times. Things will get easier when they invent the 27 hour day..._

_Thanks again to all who've posted reviews. It means a lot that you're all still reading and that you're enjoying the story. It's actually finally dawning on me just how long this story's probably going to be - the real action hasn't even started yet. So I packed as much forward momentum into this chapter as possible and avoided prophecies for the time being. This one's all about getting people where I need them to be, so I can finally get to the meat of the story. The really tricky part is, there are so many characters floating around, and i feel obligated to give everyone their moment... I might have to kill some of them off (forensicsgirl snickers evily) - Just kidding..._

_Quick shout out to _Xephon _who posted __anonymous__ly after the last chapter - yep, I haven't forgotten about Angel's stint in hell after Buffy tVS season 2. But since no one knows how long he was there for, and since Joss Whedon and the rest of the BtVS and AtS writers don't include that time when calculating Angel's age, I decided it was irrelevant. As far as I'm concerned, Angel's 251 at the time this story's set - or 277 (if you want to count the fact that he was 26 when he was turned...)_

_Hope you enjoy the chapter. Looking forward to your reviews..._

CHAPTER TEN: THE DEEP BREATH...

* * *

'Lorne!' Angel exclaimed, both pleased and surprised by his friend's sudden appearance. 'I…'

'What? You're surprised to see me?' Lorne suggested. 'You're glad I'm in one piece? You thought I'd left town?'

'Well, last time I saw you…' Angel hesitated, remembering the task he had charged Lorne with on that occasion. 'You mentioned that I wouldn't see you again.'

'Believe me, I tried to leave town. But the midnight train to Georgia got cancelled due to a little thing I like to call _the Apocalypse_,' the demon replied, more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. 'So I've been here, helping out as best I can.'

'Lorne, I…'

'Save it, Angel face,' Lorne told him firmly. 'What you asked me to do was… unforgivable. But, I was the one who chose to do it. And right now we don't have time for tears and recriminations. These people need help.'

'Why were you being attacked?' Buffy wanted to know.

'We refused to yield to Wolfram and Hart,' Rieff replied. 'We're balancing demons; we won't join forces with evil. So they decided to destroy us before we could stand against them.'

'We've been hiding out, keeping a low profile,' Lorne continued. 'We've been okay for a couple of weeks now, had the Transuding Furies cast a Sanctorium spell on the building…'

'Well, you'd better call the Furies; get them to work the spell again, cuz the demons will be back…' Angel started.

'You don't understand, Angel-cakes,' Lorne interrupted him. 'The spell no longer works because the Furies are dead.'

'Angel,' Faith stepped forward to Angel's side. 'We need to get back to the hotel. It's almost dawn.'

'Right,' Angel said, still considering the problem. 'Let's get everyone back to the hotel. There are more than enough Slayers there to help protect…'

'We don't need to be protected,' a Brachen Demon told Angel determinedly. 'We can fight. We plan to fight the darkness.'

Angel nodded. 'Good. Cuz we need all the help we can get. Consider yourselves conscripted.'

* * *

By the time the unlikely group of Slayers and Demons arrived back at the hotel, the first rays of dawn threatened on the horizon. The lobby seemed more crowded than usual, and the arrival of around a hundred demons certainly wasn't going to help matters. 

Giles looked up from the book he was reading and shot the new arrivals a questioning look.

'More house guests,' Buffy informed him.

'Ah. Right,' Giles replied, his forehead creasing as he wondered where they would put everyone. 'Several more squads of Slayers arrived in your absence. And Andrew checked in. His group is the last to arrive, and they will be here in a few hours.'

'Good,' Buffy replied with a tired smile. It had been a long night.

Angel and Faith approached the counter. 'We need to find a way to secure the hotel,' Angel said. 'There are women, children who need protection here. Not to mention, when the battle starts, we need somewhere safe to bring the wounded.'

'Willow's been working on something,' Giles told them, indicating the flame-haired witch who sat in the office behind him. She was grinding powder with a pestle and mortar.

'Hi guys,' she greeted them. 'I'm re-jigging the early warning spell I put on the house and the magic shop, back when all we had to worry about was an all-powerful hell-god. I'll have it up and running within the hour. Between that, and Faith's round-the-clock sentries standing guard, we should have plenty of warning if the bad guys decide to attack the hotel again.'

'That's great, Will,' Buffy told her. 'But we could really use a protection spell thrown in for good measure.'

'Funny you should mention that,' Willow smiled. 'Dawn's been doing some research and there are three Transuding Furies here in town that…'

'The Furies are dead,' Angel told her, effectively wiping the smile off Willow's face.

'Oh…' the witch faltered. 'Damn.'

'You're super witch, Will,' Faith told her. 'Can't you whip something up?'

Looking somewhat flattered at being referred to as 'super witch', Willow nonetheless shook her head at the request. 'Creating and maintaining a protection spell powerful enough to keep out all the demons that might come at us… it would take concentrated energy. The Furies are… were otherworldly. They had energy to spare. But if I created the same spell…'

'She wouldn't be able to do anything else,' Giles finished the statement. 'All Willow's energy would be tied up in the Sanctorium spell, and she would have nothing left to give, should we need any sort of magical aid.'

'Oh,' Faith replied, slightly deflated.

'We'll need Willow in battle,' Angel stated. 'We can't have all her energy tied up here. We need to find another way.'

'Well, there is… kinda,' Willow started hesitantly. 'I could probably protect… a room, maybe. Without having to concentrate too much, I mean. I don't know how much help that would be…'

'No, that'll help a lot…' Angel thought for a moment. 'The ballroom.'

'That big old dusty room with a huge hole in the floor?' Buffy replied skeptically. 'We all get to live there?'

'We could move the vulnerable in there, and make it the infirmary,' Angel replied. It's in the centre of the hotel, isolated from attack. It's perfect…' Off Buffy's look, he went on, 'we could fix the hole…'

Buffy shrugged. Willow picked up the spell ingredients and got to her feet. 'Okay, then. I'll get the early warning spell up and running, then I'll get to the Ballroom.'

'Right. Time to mobilize.'

Angel turned to the rest of the assembly. He noticed that the room seemed to have divided, Slayers eyeing the newly arrived demons warily, and the demons looking more than a little uncomfortable with the scrutiny.

'I know things are a little… crazy at the moment,' Angel began, raising his voice to be heard above the murmuring that was going on. At his words, the mumbling stopped, and two hundred eyes were on him. He shifted nervously, not accustomed to having to speechify to more than a handful of team members. 'We're disorganized. That needs to change. We need to be ready for this battle, whenever it may come. And we need to be united. The Listers, Kwainis, Brachens and Anomovics are our allies. They stand against Wolfram and Hart every bit as much as we do.'

One of the nearby Slayers, who looked more than a little intimidated at the presence of so many demons, shuffled towards Buffy and Faith. 'But, they're demons…' she said in a quite, conspiratorial voice.

Faith recognized her as Sheila, one of their most recent conscripts. They had only found her a few weeks before, a fourteen-year-old orphan whose entire family had been wiped out by vampires.

'The world's Technicolor, kid,' Faith told her. 'Not black and white. Trust me, these are the good guys.'

Angel had expected some resistance and uncertainty from some of the Slayers. However he trusted Buffy and Faith to set the example the younger girls would fall into step with.

'Faith, what time does your watch change shift?' Angel asked, referring to the ten slayers which Faith had positioned around the hotel at any one time.

'Anytime now.'

'Whoever's not on watch or catching up on sleep needs to help out with the sleeping arrangements round here,' Angel instructed. 'There are beds, mattresses that we can move from the abandoned parts of the hotel into the Ballroom.'

'Kennedy,' Faith called her next in command. 'Send the next watch out, then appoint teams to get the Ballroom habitable. But make sure everyone's had enough sleep. The girls need to rest while they can.'

Kennedy nodded and turned to the rest of the girls and started barking orders like a drill sergeant.

'I might be able to lighten the load, Angel,' Anne said, approaching him. 'This place is getting a little crowded. Time for me and my kids to move on.'

'It's a hotel, Anne,' Angel told her. 'There's plenty of room.'

'Some of my kids are barely into their teens,' Anne told him. 'I want to get them out of this city. It's too dangerous. I have a friend; she's willing to take us in. If we leave now, we'll make it by dark.'

'You're sure?'

'Yeah,' Anne smiled at the vampire. 'Thank you. For everything.'

'Take care, Anne,' he told her.

'Listen, we have bedding, cots, over at the shelter. Use what you need.'

Angel smiled a thank you, and she left to gather her kids.

'Xander?' Buffy called her friend, who immediately appeared at her side. 'Think you could put those carpentry skills of yours to good use, and patch up the floor in the Ballroom?'

'Sure thing, Buff,' he replied.

'Then we need to find some kind of transport to get the stuff from Anne's shelter,' Angel added.

'You could probably score a lift with your buddy Rondell,' Xander suggested.

'He's here?' Angel asked.

'Yep. Out in the garden training with some of his crew.'

* * *

The foyer was a bustle of activity as Angel made his way outside to the porch overlooking the garden. 

'Rondell,' he greeted the street fighter. 'Glad you decided to join us.'

Rondell dodged an attack from one of his crew, and used the attacker's weight and speed to his advantage, overbalancing him, and landing the young man flat on his back.

'Never lose you balance,' he tutored him. 'You lose it, game over.'

Rondell straightened up and faced Angel. 'Hey, vampire. Why don't you come out here in the morning sunshine and we'll talk some strategy.' He chuckled as Angel looked towards the blue sky, and then back at Rondell with a frown.

'This everyone?' Angel asked. In all, there were only a dozen men.

'Nah,' Rondell shock his head and climbed the steps to where Angel stood. 'The rest'll be along. I got them gathering weapons.'

'Good. Listen we've got some new allies, and I need to know you're not going to start anything.'

Rondell shot the vampire a look. 'Now didn't we have ourselves an agreement? Where's the trust, man? I got no beef with the Slayer newbies…'

'Not them,' Angel told him.

'Well, unless you expect me to fight alongside a whole mess of demons, we won't have a problem.'

Angel made a face. 'Well…'

* * *

Cordelia descended the stairs to the lobby, taking a deep breath before she reached the bottom. So many people. So much noise… Steeling herself against another freak-out, she walked across the room to the office, where she ran headlong into a familiar demon. 

'Lorne!' she exclaimed, rushing forward to hug him. Lorne, however, backed up and warded her off with his hands.

'Who the… what the…' he looked at her closely. 'Cordy? Is that you?'

'Of course it's me, you big dope,' she told him.

'Are you sure, cuz last time we thought it was you, you kinda tried to kill me…'

Rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath, Cordy embraced the inevitable.

'_Somewhere over the rainbow… Blue birds fly…' _she sang.

Lorne's eyes widened, a smile crept to his face. 'Cordy!' He quickly pulled her into an embrace. 'Oh, sweetness, it's good to have you back.'

He pulled away then, and his expression had changed. Concern mottled the look of happiness he wore. 'Oh, girl. Are you ever in need of a shoulder… Or a sea breeze - whatever's closest.'

'What? What's wrong?' Cordy's frowned in worry and confusion.

'You're carrying a hell of a weight, Princess,' Lorne told her. 'If you don't unburden yourself soon, it'll crush you.'

* * *

Connor was sitting outside on the front steps of the hotel when Cordy found him. He had wandered out there to get away from the din of too many girls crowded into a small space. Now he found himself staring into space and thinking of his parents. 

He had made them leave town the morning after he helped Angel fight Hamilton. He sensed the evil that was coming and he wanted his parents as far away as possible from it. Even though they lived in the suburbs, well out of the city, he still feared the battle might spread there. His mom's sister had a house in Montana. He had convinced them to go there, said he would follow as soon as he could.

'Connor, we're not leaving you!' his mother had told him, he jaw set as she clung to her son's hand.

'Mom, please. I swear I'll come and find you when it's over,' he had told her. 'I _need _to find Angel. He needs my help.'

His mother continued to shake her head, tears threatening in her clear blue eyes, so he had looked to his Father for help. 'Dad. Please. Get mom and the rest of the family to safety. I promise, I'll be okay.'

It had been a battle in itself, but eventually they had agreed. They didn't understand what their son was, or what he was capable of. But they knew in their hearts that he would keep his word to them.

As Cordelia watched him sitting there, she closed her eyes and wished for the thousandth time that she could take it all back. That all the pain and hurt that Connor had been put through had never happened, and he was still just a baby, being raised in a happy home with her and Angel and the rest of the AI gang. She opened her eyes and faced reality. No amount of wishing would ever change the past.

'Connor?' she said, trepidation shaking her voice.

He didn't turn around. He had sensed her presence for a few minutes now, but had said nothing, waiting for her to speak when she was ready. He didn't fully understand what had happened between them, but he knew that it hadn't been Cordelia's fault. He also knew that she didn't believe that.

'Hey,' he greeted her. 'Finally decided to talk to me, have you?'

'I…' she took another step forward. 'I'm sorry. I just… It's difficult.'

'I know. I'm sorry.'

'What are you sorry for?' she asked him, coming to sit on the low wall near the steps. 'You've done nothing wrong.'

'No… except try to kill Angel, You, myself, a whole mess of people at the mall…'

'That wasn't your fault!' she told him, her voice rising.

'It wasn't yours either, Cordelia,' he told her, giving her his eyes finally. 'I know what you think. You blame yourself for what happened last year. You shouldn't.'

'How can you say that?' she asked, tears overrunning her eyes. 'How can you forgive me?'

'You have to stop blaming yourself, Cordy. No one else does. You shouldn't.'

'He's right.'

Cordy and Connor turned to see Angel standing in the doorway behind them. 'Cordy, you have to let it go. It'll only tear you apart otherwise…'

She wanted nothing more to believe him. To be forgiven. To forgive herself. And here were the two people she had hurt more than anyone in the world, and they forgave her.

She went to Angel then, allowing him to wrap her in his arms. Over the top of her head, Angel smiled at his son.

'Thanks, Connor.'

Connor smiled back and got to his feet and moved past them, into the hotel. 'I'll go see if anyone needs some help,' he told them. As he moved out of earshot, he muttered to himself, 'She was too old for me, anyway…'

* * *

By mid-afternoon the hotel was much more organized. The Ballroom had been repaired and transformed into a dormitory, complete with protection spell. Rondell and some of his crew members had taken the trucks over to Anne's shelter and returned laden down with bedding, mattresses and first aid kits. After Xander had demonstrated his skills as a carpenter, he had taken Dawn and gone on a food run. He was fairly certain he had maxed out Giles' credit card, but he had brought home enough food to feed an army. 

And an army they were, poised and ready. All that remained was to know the hour of battle.

It had taken a lot of persuasion on Angel's part to keep Rondell and his crew on their side. Faced with the prospect of fighting along side demons, Rondell had been more than ready to walk. However, his desire to bring down the ultimate evil of Wolfram and Hart had overshadowed his dislike for all demons, and he agreed to play nice. Angel just hoped he stayed true to his word…

Around 3:30pm, Andrew arrived with the final group of Slayers.

'Fear not, one and all, I'm here now,' he had announced in his geeky, self-important way. 'The board is set, the pieces are moving. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin.'

At that, Angel rolled his eyes and escaped to the basement.

Cordy was already waiting for him.

'What do you say, big guy?' she asked playfully. 'Think you can take me?'

Angel smiled. She had cried herself out in his arms this morning and now she was approaching her old self again. He hoped that she had finally started to forgive herself and could now start moving on.

But for right now, there was training to be done.

'You sure you're ready for this?' he asked her, afraid to push her too far too fast.

'Angel, it's not like we have time to spare here,' she told him, picking up her sword. 'This all could go down at any minute, and I need to know that I'm not rusty.'

He sighed and nodded. He would have given anything to be able to keep her out of this battle. To keep her safe. But the fates had taken the decision out of his hands.

'Well, I seem to recall a certain ex-cheerleader claiming that she never had to be shown a move twice,' he teased her lightly. 'Let's put that to the test, shall we?'

Cordelia sighed. 'God, that was a long time ago…'

'Too long?'

She flashed him the patented Cordelia Chase smile. 'What do you think?'

She swung the blade, and only his vampire speed and agility allowed him to raise his own sword up in time to block the blow. She swung her own sword around, over her head, athletically sending a kick his way before bring the blade back around. Angel couldn't help but be impressed. She had remembered every move he had ever taught her, but the way she executed them was pure Cordy. Fluid, efficient, more like a dance step than a fighting style.

After ten minutes, he decided that her attack was still in great shape. He was suggesting they work on defense when the first image hit her. Relentless, vivid, the visions might not be killing her anymore, but that didn't mean they weren't intense.

_Thousands of demons, vampires, hell beasts, their own forces fighting for their lives. She could feel the pain, smell the blood, hear the screams. Then she saw herself, utterly alone in a dark room. _

A sob welled up in her throat, and she opened her eyes to find herself in Angel's arms.

'I thought the visions were supposed to be painless now,' he asked, not bothering to hide his concern. He carefully guided her over to a nearby chair and helped her sit down.

'The vision itself didn't hurt,' she told him, still trying to focus her eyes. 'It was what was in the vision that did the damage.'

'You saw the battle.' It wasn't a question. Angel saw it in her eyes.

She nodded. She closed her eyes against the onslaught of lingering images. The death. The fear. The uncertainty. Where was the room in her vision? There was something familiar about the place… Why had she been all alone? She had a feeling there was more but…

'When?'

She looked at him, unable to hide the terror building in her eyes. 'Tonight.'

* * *

_To Be Continued... Phew, that was a tough chapter for me. Hope it goes down alright with the masses - please let me know. FYI, the chapter title refers to Gandalf's comment to Pippin in LOTR Return of the King. I can be as big a geek as Andrew sometimes... :-)_


	11. Before the Plunge

_Author's Note: As every, a big thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read and review. Your kind words mean a lot to me and I'm glad that people are still enjoying the story. You guys rock. _

_A big thank you to 'J', who posted a nice, long review (twice, in fact). Thankyou for your support. You had a couple of concerns which I want to address for you. You're worried about the balancing demons involvement in the war and the Lorne/Angel situation - as I mentioned in my note before the last chapter, there is so much going on in these stories with so many characters that it takes a while to get round them all. The demons will feature in this chapter and the reasons that some (not all) are so willing to fight will become clear. As for Lorne and Angel, it's something that isn't going to go away any time soon, mainly because Lorne isn't really ready to deal with it. He's being eaten up inside and, in truth, he hates himself as much as he hates Angel over what happened with Lindsey. Again, we get some more Lorne action in this chapter as well..._

_So, thats it and on with chapter 11. Please Please Please drop me a line and tell me what you think..._

CHAPTER ELEVEN: ... BEFORE THE PLUNGE

* * *

'Tonight?' a very worried Giles repeated, immediately taking off his glasses and cleaning them vigorously.

The lobby had suddenly become as silent as a tomb as everyone present processed this new and very unsettling information. Unconsciously, several people glanced at their watches. It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Dark would come in a little over four hours.

'What exactly did you see?' Giles wanted to know. 'The war will begin tonight?'

'I just saw pieces. I feel like there's more to it, but…' Cordy closed her eyes, desperately willing her mind to fill in the blanks, to see the rest of the vision. But it was of no use. The rest of the puzzle wouldn't reveal itself to her. 'There was a battle. Fear. Death. I sensed the forces of evil would make their first move tonight… And…' she trailed off, uncertain of how to put the rest of her vision into words.

'Cordy?' Angel asked softly. He had said nothing since they came upstairs to tell the others about Cordelia's vision. He had been going over and over the information, trying to make sense of it. Not just the words, but the look that had etched itself onto the Seer's beautiful face during the vision. She had looked… haunted. He knew, without knowing how, that Cordy was barely scratching the surface of what had been revealed to her in the vision.

She hung her head and looked at the floor, afraid to give him her eyes, afraid of what he would see there. Tentatively, not wanting to push her but knowing he had to all the same; he placed his hand below her chin and raised her eyes to his.

'Tell me.'

Cordy opened her mouth and took a deep breath. At first the words wouldn't come, so she took another desperate gulp of air. 'I saw myself somewhere… a room… I recognized it, somehow. But… I'm not sure where it was. I don't know what it means. But I feel… I feel like it's a big piece of the puzzle.'

'Give yourself time. You'll figure it out,' he told her gently.

'Angel,' Cordy shook her head. 'We just ran out of time.'

Buffy was the first to recover from these new revelations. She had realized that the battle would be soon, but she had never imagined… They needed to move quickly. 'Cordelia's right. Time is a luxury we no longer have. We know the enemy has been gathering in town. We need to know where. How many.'

'Recon,' Faith jumped in, reading Buffy's mind. 'I'll go. And I'll take the kid,' she jutted her chin in Connor's direction. 'He's a good tracker, if memory serves.'

Giles nodded his approval and turned to Willow. 'Willow, have you pinpointed where the portals from demon dimensions have been opening recently? That would give Faith and Connor an area to start from.'

Willow nodded and went to the desk, where she retrieved a map of downtown LA. Spreading it out on the counter, she showed her findings to the group.

'The strongest concentration of portal manifestations has been in these areas,' she told them, pointing to six large red dots she had drawn on the map.

Angel recognized the area the portals were circling. 'They're all centered around the Wolfram and Hart building,' he remarked. 'No surprise there then…'

'So that's where we'll start,' Faith announced, grabbing her crossbow and a dagger. 'Ready kid?' she asked Connor. He nodded and went to the weapons cabinet to load up.

'Faith,' Buffy walked up to the dark-haired Slayer with a serious, big-sisterly expression on her face. 'Do not engage. Just get a head count and get back here.'

'Stop worrying B,' Faith grinned. 'You'll get wrinkles.'

Connor finished stocking up on stakes, a knife and a small axe and turned to join Faith at the door. Angel stepped into his path. 'Be careful.'

Connor gave his father a confident smile. 'I will.'

* * *

Cordy paced Angel's bedroom, muttering with frustration to no one except the four walls. 

'Think Cor. Think!' she said, incessantly pacing. 'What else was the vision telling you?'

She shut her eyes and focused. She could see the battle again… but that wasn't what she needed to see. In her mind's eye, she transported herself to that room. She was alone. Isolated. Afraid… _Where was she?_'

Infuriated with herself, she flung herself backwards onto Angel's bed. The palms of her hands kneaded her closed eyes, making her see white spots. _What wasn't she seeing?_

She focused on the room itself, trying to ignore the horrible fear that overloaded her system when she pictured herself in it. Markings on the wall. She hadn't noticed them before… Markings, in a strange language. A faint glow came from one corner. Torchlight, maybe? A table, several feet away. With… with books on top of it.

Bits and pieces of information were coming back to her now, but nothing told her where the room in her vision was. Or what significance it held to the upcoming battle. But _she knew_. She knew that the room was familiar to herIf only…

Then it hit her. The solution. If she held this information within her mind, there was one person she knew could gain access to it.

* * *

'We have no business being here,' Drask, a member of the Lister clan was saying. 'This is not _our_ war.' 

The four demon clans had withdrawn to the ballroom, now protected by the witch's spell. Most planned to make sure their children and those women who would not be fighting were settled in, and then they would prepare for war. Others still wanted to flee.

Farque, an Anomovic demon stepped forward. 'I agree. The forces of Wolfram and Hart may be here in a matter of hours. We should leave this city while we still have time.'

'And go where?' Rieff demanded to know. 'They have chased us for years. No matter where we go, where we hide, they find us!'

There were murmurs of agreement from among the ranks of the Listers and the Brachen demons.

'There are places we've heard of,' Farque said. 'Safe havens where they will not find us…'

'You think we haven't tried that?' Karte, a Brachen demon, asked angrily. 'We have run to so many different so-called 'safe havens', hoping for salvation. And they still hunted us.'

'My people fled to Briole,' Rieff told them. 'We thought we were safe there. But the Scourge found us. Slaughtered half our clan. They will always find us.'

'You saw how the humans looked at us,' Gratt, an Anomovic demon protested. 'They do not want to help us. And why should we help them in this battle? It's not out concern. Farque is right. We should flee.'

Maret, another Brachen, spoke up. 'You don't understand. You have not suffered what we have suffered. The Anomovics have been able to assimilate into the human world. Hide, to a certain extent. The Kwainis have remained underground, mostly untroubled by the human and demon worlds. Your clans have been left alone by the Scourge until now. _We_ have had to watch countless family members murdered at the hands of the 'pure bloods'.'

'My clan leader, my sister, my parents… I watched them all die at the hand of the Scourge,' Rieff told the doubters of the group. 'This is not _our_ war? Aren't _our people_ being attacked by the same enemy as the humans? Don't we walk in the _same world_ as them? Do we want to see this evil spread, so that there is no safe place for us to raise our families? Don't we want to live _in peace_?'

'We are non-violent,' a member of the Kwaini clan finally spoke up. 'We do not belong in war. What can we possibly do to help?'

'I used to believe that,' Rieff replied. 'I used to believe that there was nothing I could do to change the way the world was. I used to be bitter, hating the humans for hating me. I believed that the only place I had in this world was to be alone. To forsake the company of my own people, to avoid the company of other demons and humans. To keep to the shadows, believing in nothing. Belonging to nothing. Another half-breed taught me otherwise.'

An Anomovic demon snorted. 'Your legendary '_Savior_'. The '_Chosen One_'.'

'That's right.'

'He's dead!'

Several members of both the Lister and Brachen clans stood up at this, infuriated by the disrespect in his tone.

'He was a hero!' a Brachen demon yelled.

'He saved us!' cried a Lister.

'Doyle gave his life fighting back the forces of darkness,' Rieff told them. 'Either we can be prepared to do the same, for the sake of our futures and that of our families; or we can choose to run. To walk away from this battle. The choice is there for everyone in this room. No one here can be forced to fight, if their hearts are not in it.'

He looked around the room, taking in the mixture of fear, apprehension, bravery, anger, uncertainty and conviction that shone in the eyes of everyone present. 'I wish we could go back to our normal, peaceful lives. I wish we weren't standing on the edge of this war. But we are… There are less than four hours until sunset. If you do not want to be part of this, if you wish to continue to run, then I suggest you do so before the sun goes down.'

* * *

Faith and Connor looked down on the ruins of the Wolfram and Hart building from a neighboring rooftop. And what they looked upon was far from comforting. Literally thousands of demons covered the ruined building, having set up some kind of make-shift demon camp site. 

'So, uh…' Faith looked over the scene, feeling a little overwhelmed. 'I don't think I can count that high… How many do you think are down there?'

'Any number I come up with is just gonna scare the crap out of everyone back at the hotel,' Conner commented quietly. 'There's _a lot_…'

Movement near the road attracted Faith's gaze. 'What's happening down there?'

Several army trucks had pulled up, and a number of demons in fatigues, looking vaguely like Nazis, Faith mused, were loading something into the back of one of the trucks. While the rest of the demons around the encampment seemed to be taking it easy, the army demons seemed to be mobilizing.

'The first wave?' Connor suggested. As he spoke, around a hundred demons, all in similar uniforms, marched towards the trucks.

Faith nodded. 'Looks like,' she agreed. 'Let's get back to the hotel and let the others know.'

* * *

Buffy faced her troops, Angel at her side. For a moment she remembered the last vampire who stood at her side prior to battle – and she couldn't believe that it was over a year since she last marched into war with Spike at her side. Her heart ached for the fallen vampire. But she had no time to indulge her emotions at this moment. Time was running out fast. 

'I know this battle has suddenly been sprung on us,' she told the assembled Slayers. 'But we've know it was coming for while now. We just didn't know when. Now we know. This is what we've trained for. We're ready. What I need you all to do now is know it too. Know that you're ready. Believe it.'

She looked from face to face of her army. She hadn't met all of them yet. She only knew a handful of their names. But she knew that they would give their heart and soul to this fight. It was their birth right.

'Now, rest up while you can. Keep your weapons close at hand.'

* * *

Cordelia found Lorne in his old room. Normally bustling about, full of energy and humming some Motown tune or other, she was surprised to find him staring out his window pensively. Almost… broodingly? 

'Lorne?'

He turned, surprised, plastering on a big, fake smile as soon as he saw her. 'Hey, princess. What's up?'

'You tell me,' she told him. 'I need a reading.'

Lorne sighed. 'I'm not really in the mood, sweetie…'

'_Get_ in the mood,' Cordy told him urgently. 'We've officially run out of time and options. I had a vision, and I need to know what it means.'

'Cordelia…' a twinge of annoyance in his voice.

'Lorne,' she said, her voice urging him to look at her. When he didn't she crossed the room and made him, placing her hand on his shoulder and physically turning him round to face her. 'What's wrong?'

He started to speak, to tell her 'nothing's wrong', but she was on to him. 'And don't give me the 'nothing's wrong' brush off, because I'm not biting. I don't need a vision to sense when something's wrong. Now talk to me.'

'I don't want to talk about it, Cordy,' Lorne told her, walking away.

'Here's the deal, Lorne. A lot of us are having issues right now. And in an ideal world, we'd all sit down and sort through them before going into this battle,' Cordy sighed, thinking of her own, unresolved issues. They were still there, haunting her. But she had to put them to one side. For now. 'Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world. Bad things are coming. Tonight. So I need you to give me the quick and nasty version, get it off your chest and then afterwards, if we survive the apocalypse this time, I swear I'll help you deal properly.'

Before he could talk himself out of it, he turned to her and blurted it out. 'Angel asked me to kill Lindsey after he completed his mission. And I did. In cold blood.'

Cordelia was stunned. Whatever she had been expecting, this certainly wasn't it. She had sensed a vibe between Angel and Lorne since they had arrived back at the hotel. A coldness. A distance, mainly emanating from the Pylean. Now she knew why.

'God. Lorne,' Cordelia stammered, not really knowing what to say. 'It… it was your…?'

'First kill?' Lorne said, no small amount of bitterness in his voice. 'Yeah. It was.'

'I'm sorry,' Cordy told him. 'Angel…'

'What? Had his reasons?' Lorne sighed angrily, trying to regain his composure. 'Look, Princess. I'm angry at him and I'm angry at myself. Wet works weren't what I signed on for and I… And I _really _don't want to talk about this… Sing.'

Cordelia was confused. 'What?'

'You came in here to sing. So sing.'

* * *

Faith and Connor returned to the hotel to find their army assembled and ready for battle. In their absence, Buffy had trebled the guards around the exterior of the hotel. Several Slayers also stood sentry at each of the hotel's main entrances and ten more waited on the rooftop, to guard against an aerial assault. 

Almost fifty demons stood at one side of the lobby, armed and ready. At the other side of the lobby, and spilling out into the gardens, where the battalion of street fighters under Rondell's command.

'Faith,' Buffy greeted her sister Slayer. 'What do you have for us?'

'A whole mess of trouble,' the dark-haired Slayer replied. 'There are a lot of demons hanging round the Wolfram and Hart building.'

'How many?' Angel wanted to know.

'A _lot_,' Faith emphasized. 'We're talking Helm's Deep, at the very least. But the interesting thing is, they don't seem ready to move out.'

'Cordy's vision said it was going to happen tonight,' Angel insisted.

Faith shrugged. 'Something's happening tonight, alright. Around a hundred, a hundred and fifty demons are gearing up to come here.'

'What kind of demons?' Giles asked.

'Didn't get a real good look,' Faith replied. 'Dressed in army fatigues, marching in step, like some group of weird demon-Nazis.'

'Their faces were really messed up,' Connor added. 'Sort of stitched together.'

'The Scourge,' a soft, terrified voice said from the stairway.

Angel looked up to see Cordelia, her face frozen in horror. Only a moment ago, she had been descending the stairs, frustrated by the fact that she still couldn't tap into the rest of her vision. Lorne had no success in reading her either. Whatever she wasn't remembering, it was buried and would come 'in its own good time', Lorne had told her.

All of that was forgotten the second she heard Faith and Connor describing the demons that were about to attack. It could only be _one_ group. She recognized the description instantly, her nightmares having been focused on them numerous times in the past. Now they were back.

'Angel,' she said fearfully. 'It's them.'

Angel nodded grimly, walking to the foot of the stairs to meet Cordy and to put a reassuring arm around her. 'It'll be alright. There's only a hundred or so. There are more than two hundred of us. Odds are in our favor.'

'The odds are stacked. In _their _favor,' she told him. 'What if they have another beacon?'

'They won't…' Angel told her, not even remotely convincingly.

'Come one, Angel. They have to know what size our army is. They wouldn't send that many demons against us without some serious firepower.'

Giles, Buffy and the others were looking on, confused and intrigued.

'What's this beacon thing?' Buffy asked. 'A weapon?'

Cordy nodded, tears forming at the memory. _A flash of light. A final leap. A scream of agony as his disintegrating hands disconnected the cable, saving everyone on the ship. Except himself._

'Its light kills anything with human blood,' she said, trying desperately to keep her voice from shaking. 'Humans, half-demons, vampires…'

'If it detonates, it could kill everyone within a quarter mile radius,' Angel added.

'Good Lord,' Giles exclaimed. 'You've seen this weapon in action?'

Angel nodded.

'How did you stop it?'

'I didn't,' Angel replied quietly. 'Doyle did. That's how he died.'

Buffy turned to Willow. 'Will, research mode. Try and find a magical way to stop the beacon. Dawn. Give her a hand,' she turned from her sister to her Watcher. 'Giles. We're running short on time. Have you gotten anything else about the prophecy?'

Angel, Cordelia and Connor gathered closer to hear what Giles had to say. 'Everything is still rather vague,' the Englishman began. 'There are references to traveling to a 'holy place', the 'origin' 'the meeting of the two suns'… And I found a random collection of letters, which don't seem to make any sense at all…'

'Letters?' Angel asked, frowning at the parchment that Giles was translating from.

'Random consonants…' Giles began, but he was interrupted by a scream.

Cordelia clutched at her head as the vision hit her. _She saw the beacon, glowing. Ready to detonate. Then, it seemed like time sped forward. She saw Angel, Connor and herself leading a small group towards a swirling pool of light. She saw green fields and trees and a temple, high on a hill. She saw books. Three books, in a chamber lit by candles. She saw herself, alone in a room. This time, however, she knew exactly where she was…_

She came out of the vision to find herself in Angel's arms. She had fallen when the vision hit her and, as ever, her hero had caught her. She looked up to see worry in his eyes.

'Cordy?' he asked. 'You okay?'

Shaking off the residual pain and fuzziness that filled her head, and ignoring the nagging worry that her last two visions had hurt far more than they should have, she sat up urgently. 'Angel! I know where we have to go…'

Her revelation was cut short by a Slayer running into the lobby, shouting a warning. Almost instantly she was followed by another, thrown head-first through the glass of the hotel's front door and landing, unconscious in front of them.

* * *

_To Be Continued..._


	12. The First Soldier Down

_Author's Note: A **really big thank you** to _angel-cordy; angelfan384; and LuckyThirteen _who reviewed the last chapter. It means a lot that people aren't losing interest in the story. Please do keep on letting me know what you think - its a lot of work and one of the things keeping me writing is the feedback that I'm receiving._

_This story seems to get longer the more I write - I was originally planning on around 20 chapters, but I think it's safe to assume that it'll be a little longer than that now... _

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE FIRST SOLDIER DOWN

* * *

The sound of fighting broke out from outside the hotel's main doors. Despite the Slayers standing in their way and with military precision, several members of the Scourge marched through the doors and into the lobby. They came in waves, indifferent to the obstacles in their path, indifferent to the members of their army that fell in battle. They had one goal. One purpose. They focused only on it. 

Grabbing up his sword, Angel charged. He cleaved the heads off two of the demons without breaking stride and ran his blade through the next one he encountered, before an iron-like fist knocked him backwards. Looking up, he saw Tiernan, the commander of the Scourge, glowering over him.

'We meet again half-breed.'

A well placed steel-toed boot sent Angel hurtling across the floor. Tiernan stepped forward, stake in hand, to finish the vampire off when another figure blocked his way.

'What is it with you bad guys and your witty turns of phrase?' Cordelia asked him in a scathing voice. 'We meet again…' _Please._ Can you say 'contrived'?'

Tiernan looked at her in disgust. A filthy human. And he thought he detected the stench of something else about her too.

'You're another half-breed,' he declared, spitting out the words as if they left a bad taste in his mouth. 'Another _part_-demon.'

'Demon enough to kick your skanky, leathery ass,' she said, raising her Katana.

Behind her, Angel got to his feet. 'I know it's been a few years, and god knows I've offed a couple hundred demons in the meantime, but didn't I kill you?' he asked the demon.

Tiernan laughed. 'The half-breed is more idiotic than he looks. You merely broke my neck, vampire. Hardly sufficient to kill _me._'

'Guess I'll just have to try harder then,' Angel retorted. 'Cordy, get behind me.'

She only glanced away for a second, but it was enough. Tiernan moved with frightening speed and dexterity, swinging the club in his hand. Angel's eyes were wide as he watched Cordelia fly across the room like a rag doll and land in a heap at the foot of the counter.

With a guttural scream of rage, Angel charged at the demon. The fight was short and bloody. Ducking beneath Tiernan's club, Angel drove his blade into the demon's foot. While his victim was still screaming, Angel grabbed Cordelia's fallen sword and decapitated the demon with it.

Ignoring the battle that was raging all around him, Angel ran to Cordy's crumpled body. As he raised her up off the ground and into his arms, he breathed a sigh of relief when she gave a small groan.

'Cordy?' he said, still worried about the extent of her injuries.

Someone yelling his name took his attention away from Cordy and back towards the battle. Except it wasn't a battle anymore. The Scourge was no longer attacking. However, they weren't retreating either. They were collectively smirking with satisfaction, gazing up at something on the upper landing of the lobby. Angel followed their gaze and to his horror saw what Faith had been yelling about.

'Is that the beacon?' Faith asked, now that she had his attention.

'Yeah,' Angel replied, getting to his feet. Inwardly, he kicked himself. The fight had been a decoy, a ruse to distract them while the Scourge got the beacon into the building.

He glanced back at the Scourge. They had fallen back to guard the doorways – the Slayers could fight their way out of the building in minutes, but not before the beacon detonated. There was only one thing to do.

'It's armed and ready to detonate,' Angel told Buffy and Faith. 'But there's a way to disconnect the power source. If I can get to it before…'

'No!' Buffy told him, horrified by the suggestion. 'You can't do that! It's suicide.'

Like an echo in his mind, he heard those same words spoken by Cordelia, over four years before. Glancing over his shoulder at Cordy, who was starting to come around, he looked back at the Slayers determinedly.

'If I don't, everyone here will die, Buffy!' he told her. 'Then Wolfram & Hart will have won. Our army disintegrated in one fell swoop. I can't let that happen.'

As he moved towards the Beacon, he was faintly surprised that none of the Scourge moved to stop him.

'Angel!' Buffy called after him, tears welling in her throat. She tried to go after him, but Faith grabbed her arm.

'Let him go, B,' Faith told her. Buffy looked at her and was surprised to see that there were also tears in the normally tough-as-nails slayer's eyes. 'This is what he does…'

Cordy moaned and slowly sat up. She vaguely recalled facing off against a demon and then _wham_, everything went black. She focused her fuzzy eyes on Angel and smiled. He was okay. Then her smile froze in horror as she saw what he was walking towards.

Like an atomic chandelier, the beacon glowed on the landing about them. As she watched Angel, she knew exactly what he was going to do. It was the same thing he tried to do last time they faced the Scourge. Only this time, there was no brave, Irish part-demon to stop him. The memory was so fresh, so raw. It appeared before her eyes unbidden…

_Doyle and Cordy climbed the iron rungs of a ladder and ran across the platform to meet Angel. Collectively, they turned to face the beacon, suspended above the centre of the cargo hold in which they were now trapped._

_Doyle eyed the device warily. 'What does that thing do?' he asked Angel._

_Angel's answer was undiluted and straight to the point. 'Its light kills anything with human blood.'_

'_Well, it's getting brighter and that doohickey…' the realization dawned on the Irishman. 'It's fully armed, isn't it?'_

'_Almost. If I pull the cable, I think I can still shut it off.'_

_Cordelia knew what he was implying. Doyle, however, remained momentarily clueless. 'How're you gonna do that without touching the light?' _

'_Angel, it's suicide,' Cordelia said, wide-eyed with fear._

'_There's got to be another way,' Doyle insisted._

_Angel looks at the Lister demons; men, women and children, clinging to each other below them in the hold. Then he turned to look at Cordy. 'It's all right,' he told her._

'_No!' she told him forcefully, as if by her will she could make it so._

_Doyle for his part said nothing for a moment, regarding Angel with a silent respect, weighing what he knew had to be done. Angel put his hand on his friend's shoulder, tears forming in his eyes. He had never been any good at 'goodbyes'._

_Doyle placed his own hand on Angel's arm and gave him a half-smile. 'The good fight, yeah? You never know until you've been tested.'_

_The Irish half-demon recalled their earlier conversation, when Angel had confessed he had given up a life with Buffy in order to continue to fight evil in LA. At the time Doyle didn't understand how anyone could make that choice. But now… _

'_I get that now.'_

_Cordy hung her head, fighting off tears. She felt so helpless, unable to do or to say anything that would change their situation. Either a man she cared about was going to die, or they all would._

_Giving his friend a last, grateful smile, Doyle hauled his fist back and punched Angel hard, knocking him backwards off the platform. It was a three story drop before Angel hit the metal bellow._

_Before she could say a word, Doyle turned to Cordelia and swept her up into a passionate kiss, full of unfulfilled hope and promise. After a moment he reluctantly broke away from her. Cordelia said nothing, too stunned to utter a word. _

'_Too bad we'll never know…' he said, changing from his human visage to that of his Brachen demon-half, 'if this is a face you could learn to love.'_

_Still she could say nothing, as the full weight of what was happening dawned on her. Doyle was going to jump, and he wasn't going to let her or Angel stop him. She wanted to cry out to him, to tell him not to do it. But she was paralyzed, overloaded with some many emotions that none could assert themselves. All she could do was watch as Doyle, the man she almost could have loved, made his way to the edge of the platform._

_Far bellow them, Angel turned over, groaning. Then he remembered how he got there._

'_Doyle,' he said, picking himself up off the metal floor and looking back up to the platform above. 'Doyle! Doyle!' he kept calling his friend's name with mounting urgency as he ran to the ladder and began to climb._

_Doyle measured the distance of the jump once more and sprang toward the deadly device, just as Angel reached the top most rung of the ladder. _

'_No!'_

_Grabbing hold of the metal frame that surrounded the Beacon, he hauled himself up and turned to give his friends one last smile. The beacon was gaining power, its sinister whirring getting louder by the second, so Doyle got to work, trying to grab the cables, all the time fighting against the searing pain of his flesh being melted from his body._

'_No!' Angel screamed again, tears of anguish and of guilt flooding his eyes._

_In the pain caused by the light of the device, Doyle morphed back to his human face, all the while fighting with the power cables. As the device grew brighter and brighter, it seemed that all hope was lost. But with a final scream of agony, Doyle succeeded in his goal. The beacon gave one last flash of light and then grew dark. And Doyle was no more._

_It was done. He was gone. Sobbing, Cordelia stared at the now dormant beacon, somehow hoping that she would see him there. The two remaining champions were broken, defeated. All they could do was hold each other and weep._

'NO!' Cordelia screamed with all her might, as Angel neared his goal. She couldn't let another man she cared about die at the hands of that weapon. She wouldn't. As she screamed, she felt energy pulsate off her, a heat that began deep within and emanated from her in waves.

Buffy and Faith looked back towards Cordy in time to see a beam of light explode out of her, filling the entire lobby with an unearthly glow. With the single mindedness of a shark looking for blood, it streaked towards the beacon.

Angel's hands were within inches of the device when Cordelia's power hit. Momentarily blind, Angel was flung backwards as the light consumed the beacon. With a deafening 'whoosh', it imploded, leaving nothing behind but the acrid smell of smoke in the air.

Stunned, Angel looked back in time to see Cordelia crumple to the floor unconscious.

* * *

When the Scourge realized their Beacon had failed for a second time, they didn't wait around. The Slayers managed to pick off a number of demons in the retreat, and Rondell's crew chased them for several blocks, taking out two truck loads in the process. 

Considering the size and determination of the force that attacked them, the good guys seemed to be relatively unscathed. As Faith and Buffy surveyed the damage, they tried to fight back the realization that it could have been so much worse. If it had gone the other way they all would have been nothing more than scorch marks on the tiled floor of the lobby. As it was, there were a multitude of cuts and bruises, one or two fractures… but nothing life threatening.

That was until a Slayer above them screamed.

They had sent Sheila, one of their newest Slayers, up to the roof to check on the ten Slayers they had posted there. Buffy, Faith, Kennedy and several other Slayers ran up the stairs to see what had the new girl so distraught.

They found her curled in a ball, sobbing by the entrance door to the roof. As Kennedy and a few other girls bent to comfort her, Faith and Buffy stepped past her to check out the roof. There was no sign of the ten Slayers who had been standing watch.

All that remained were ten piles of ash.

* * *

'Her powers seem to be growing,' Giles said. 'They may be becoming too much for her…' 

Angel wouldn't take his eyes off Cordelia's still form, lying atop his bed. She still hadn't stirred.

'Angel, she's packing some serious power,' Willow spoke now, her worried voice trying in vain to sooth him. 'I'm sure she'll be okay, but…'

'This has happened before,' Angel finally spoke, but not to them. Eyes still trained on the unconscious brunette, he moved towards her, speaking in the determined voice he reserved only for her, when she would put herself in danger or not look after herself properly. It was a stern voice, almost angry, as if annoyed that she would do anything to risk removing herself from his life. 'This has happened before Cordy. And you came back. Where are you?'

'Angel, I don't think this is the same thing,' Willow said uneasily. 'The coma she was in after Jasmine…'

'Not then,' Angel replied, a little impatiently. 'More than two years ago. Before she was made part-demon. She astral projected out of her body after a really bad vision. We didn't know what had happened to her… couldn't bring her out of it. But she came back on her own.'

That had them stumped.

'I'll… I'll start researching. See if we can find out exactly what happened,' Giles suggested. 'Perhaps Wesley's journals, his notes on the last time this happened, will provide something useful…'

Angel sat down on the edge of the bed and took one of Cordelia's hands in both of his. 'Come back to me, Cordy,' he said softly. 'Wake up. Please.'

* * *

_To Be Continued... _

_Authors Note: 'The First Soldier Down' is how Cordy refers to Doyle in the 100th episode 'You're Welcome'. _

_For those of you desperate to know where Cordelia's vision in Chapter 11 was telling her to go - you'll have to wait until chapter 13... :-)_


	13. The Vision Quest

_Author's Note: Sorry for the delay - had a touch of writer's block over this chapter._

_I dragged it out WAY too long, but you'll finally find out where the confrontation between good and evil is going to take place (if you haven't already worked it out from the numeous clues I left). A face from the past will also make a welcome, if somewhat brief, return._

_Many thanks to _LuckyThirteen, angel-cordy, angelfan384, Meg, _and_ CArules _for their kind wordsabout the last chapter. Hope I continue to hold your interest._

_Not much action this chapter, but don't worry - lots and lots to come. Til then, unlucky for some (but hopefully not in this instance) Chapter 13._

CHAPTER THIRTEEN : THE VISION QUEST

* * *

A bright light was shining directly onto her face and, despite the fact that her eyes were closed, it was blinding her. Slowly she raised a hand to shield her eyes, before blinking them open. Somehow, she found herself in the middle of a lush, green clearing, bathed in sunlight. Nearby she could hear the trickle of a stream and the wind whispering through the trees of the woods that surrounded her. 

Sitting up and squinting around her, she tried to fathom just how she had gotten here. And where was here? It looked vaguely familiar, but then she supposed all clearings in wooded areas would look similar.

'Where the…?' she started, but she was interrupted by a voice behind her.

'Hey there, Princess.'

At the sound of his voice, her head spun around so fast that she almost gave herself whiplash.

'Doyle?' she asked, staring in wonder at the figure before her. 'Oh my god. What are you…? Oh, no… am I dead again?'

Doyle let out a throaty chuckle. 'What? Are you trying to out-do Angel's personal record?'

'Well, Buffy's is a more impressive record to beat, but… No, seriously Doyle. Am I…?'

'No darlin'. This is more like a 'vision quest'. You're very much alive,' he smiled.

'Good,' she replied, getting up and hitting him, hard, on the shoulder.

'Ouch! And kicking, by the looks of it,' Doyle groaned, massaging his throbbing shoulder. 'What gives with the violence?'

'Always start these things with '_don't worry, Cor, you're not dead_'!' Cordelia rolled her eyes. 'Jeez! So, where the hell am I then?'

'Don't you recognize the place?'

Cordelia looked around, still nothing in particularly striking a cord with her. But there _was _something. A feeling, more than anything else. Then she looked up. And groaned. '_Oh no. Not here! _I was hoping I was wrong about the vision.'

Doyle shrugged apologetically. ''Fraid not, Princess. This is where the showdown between the trinity of evil and the three souls of good is to take place.'

'Why _here_?'

'They have their stronghold here,' Doyle told her. 'A Temple. It's where they're planning to launch their final attack on earth from.'

'So we have to go straight into the lions den?' Cordy asked. 'Great… I need to get back and tell Angel.'

'You will, 'Delia,' Doyle told her. 'But first you need to get control over your powers. They're going to be vital to winning this war.'

Looking up at the two suns in the sky once more, Cordy let out a sign. Then a sudden though struck her. 'Do I still have diplomatic immunity here?' she asked the Irishman.

Doyle sighed. Same old Cor…

* * *

Faith had taken a group of Slayers on another recon mission. Buffy hoped that the Scourge's failure might slow down an attack by the rest of the demons, but somehow she doubted it. Now she sat feeling helpless, waiting for Giles to come up with an answer, while she silently mourned the deaths of ten girls she didn't know the names of. 

Andrew sat nearby, wiping away the occasional tear. Half the girls had been in his charge. He had been their watcher. Now all he could do was pour over book after book, looking for an answer to a question he wasn't even clear on.

Lorne was still had the post-battle jitters. Deciding to fix himself a drink, he headed into the office where Giles was working. _Thank the gods for small mercies_, he though to himself, when he discovered a half-full bottle of vodka still hidden in a cupboard beneath the desk. He looked around for a glass to pour it into. To hell with Sea Breezes tonight. He'd settle for vodka neat.

'How you holding up?' Willow asked her friend, handing her a cup of strong coffee.

Buffy merely nodded and refocused her eyes back on Giles as he jotted a few more words down on paper.

'Anything yet?' she asked him.

'I think… yes, I think I've got most of it now,' Giles replied hesitantly. Buffy jumped to her feet and hurried to his side as Giles peered at the prophecy intently. 'Yes… 'The chosen souls of light must journey through… the swirling light?... that translation may be a little off… They must go to the origin… um, the source, perhaps…There in the unholy palace, to do battle with the Trinity of Evil beneath the dual suns.'

At his last words, Lorne's ears pricked up, his drink paused within inches of his mouth as he simple stared at the parchment in the Watcher's hand.

'Where is that?' Buffy asked. 'It still isn't giving us a location.'

'Yeah, Giles,' Xander remarked. 'Can we have the less vague version?'

'That's all it says,' Giles replied, deeply frustrated. 'With the exception of these random consonants I told you about. I simple can't translate them.'

Still shell-shocked, Lorne found his voice. 'That's cause they can't be translated, kids,' the demon told them. He knocked back his drink in one long pull. 'It's an incantation. To open a portal.'

'To where?' Giles asked.

'Home sweet hell,' Lorne replied sarcastically. 'A dimension called Pylea.'

Before he could say anymore, Faith re-entered the hotel. 'They seem to be holding for now. I've left a couple of girls to stand watch, so we get a heads up when they mobilize.' She looked around the serious faces huddled over the prophecy. 'What? You guys make some progress?'

'It would seem so,' Giles replied. 'However, we still have the problem of Cordelia.'

* * *

Angel hadn't moved from his vigil at Cordy's bedside, while Connor paced restlessly in the hallway. 

As the minutes ticked by, Angel had become increasingly despondent. It was as though she wasn't in her body anymore, and the thought that her psyche was somewhere he couldn't reach terrified him more than any other thought that flooded his tortured mind.

He had lost her once, irretrievably, he believed at the time, but somehow he'd got her back. And now he knew he couldn't bear another parting. He had lost his way the day that Cordelia Chase had been taken from him. The only thing that stopped him going completely over the edge was the fact that he still had Fred, Gunn and Wesley for support. Now they were gone.

He was back on the path, with her at his side. But he knew, deep in his soul, if he lost her this time, he wouldn't be able to find the path again.

'Cordy,' he whispered to her. 'Don't you dare leave me again. I need you.'

* * *

Cordelia could have sworn she heard his voice. She looked behind her, then all around the clearing, but saw nothing. 'Angel?' she said, uncertain. 

'Focus sweetheart,' Doyle urged her. 'You can't be thinking of the big guy right now.'

She looked at him sharply. 'Why not?'

'Your powers are all tied to your emotions,' he replied. 'If you start thinking about him, you'll be drawn back to him. And you haven't learned all you need to yet.'

'So, you're what? Some sort of swami now?' she asked sarcastically. 'Here to impart great wisdom?'

'Hey, I know you didn't consider me to be wise when I was still alive, but I'm tapped directly into the PTB now, darlin', so you'd do well to pay attention.' He grinned at her. 'Besides, I thought you'd be pleased to see me.'

Cordelia silently berated herself for the sharp tone she had directed at her friend. 'I'm sorry, Doyle. It's just… all of this,' she gestured her hand aimlessly around her. 'It's all a bit much to take in.'

'Well, take a deep breath, Princess, cuz there's a bit more to come,' he warned her. 'So here's the long and the short of it. Like I said, your new powers are tied directly to your emotions. If you panic, you overload yourself. Throw a circuit breaker.'

'That's how I ended up here.'

'Exactly,' Doyle agreed. 'You're packing a hell of a lotta power into that slender frame of yours, Cordelia, and you need to learn to control it. Fast.'

Cordy shot him a worried look. 'How?'

'Be in touch with your emotions, but don't let them overwhelm you. And _don't panic_. If you can stay calm and focused, you could well be the most powerful weapon us good guys have in this war.'

'Okay. Great. So no pressure or anything…' she remarked sarcastically.

'That's the first thing I had to tell you. Now for the second. Follow me.' Doyle began to walk towards the trees and Cordelia obediently followed.

'Doyle? Where are we going?'

'You'll see.'

* * *

'So this _Pythian _place?' Buffy asked. 'Where or what is it? Exactly?' 

'_Pylea, _honey. If you're imagining beautiful Greek architecture, stop,' Lorne corrected her. 'It's a hell dimension. Bad clothes. Person hygiene not high on a list of priorities there. Horrible dancing. And, worst of all, _no music_. I'm talking literal _Hell_.'

'Well, as long as we don't spontaneously burst into song there, it's all good,' Xander quipped.

'I stumbled upon a portal and got the heck outta there eight years ago,' Lorne continued his explanation. 'Then, about three years back, Cordelia was sucked into a portal to my beloved dimension and we had to go rescue her there. That's how we found Fred…' he added sadly.

'Can you think of any reason why the prophecy is suggesting we go there to fight against Wolfram & Hart?' Giles asked him.

Lorne thought for a moment. 'Well, they have offices in just about every known dimension. And the Covenant of Trombli there seemed to have some kinda tie to Wolfram & Hart. Aside from those fun facts, I can't help you.'

A thought occurred to Giles. 'I think I noticed some entries in Wesley's journals pertaining to that dimension. They were dated from a few years ago, and I didn't think they were relevant at the time, so I skipped by them…' He hurried back to the desk and started flicking through the diaries.

* * *

The first thing Cordelia saw when they came to the end of the woods was a huge, Gothic structure, looming on the crest of a hill. It was like something straight out of Bram Stoker. The sky around it seemed to darken, as if the evil emanating from the building was polluting the very air. Cordelia shivered involuntarily. 

'What the hell is _that_?' she asked Doyle. 'I don't remember that being here last time.'

'It was well hidden before,' Doyle explained. 'The senior partners have been biding their time. But now they're getting ready to make their move.'

'What about the people here?' Cordelia asked. 'Don't they know what's going on?'

'They're not really in the position to do much about it,' Doyle replied. 'Listen, 'Delia, time is short. The Partners have shipped a hell of a lot of demons into LA for this showdown. They're waiting here in their temple until California is under their control. This is the best time to attack them here. They're forces are down to maybe fifty demon guards and a dozen or so priests. It's you're only chance.'

'To do what?' Cordelia was wide-eyed with both amazement and fear. Sure she knew that it was prophesized that they were to face off against Wolfram & Hart. She just didn't expect it to be on the bad guy's turf. 'Except be afraid and die? I mean, these are the _Senior Partners_ we're talking about.'

'There's a way, Princess,' Doyle assured her. 'Trust me. You'll find it. Just remember what I told you. Focus. Don't panic.'

'Easy for you to say. You're already dead.'

'This is all going down soon. They'll attack in the next 24 hours. Which means you'll already need to have launched your own attack here.'

Cordelia was rendered temporarily speechless. _Less than 24 hours? _How would they ever be ready in time?

'One last word of advice, Princess,' Doyle said. 'Those books of the Covenant. The one's with the animals on the covers?'

The memory triggered in Cordy's mind. 'The books with the Wolf, Ram and Hart on them?'

'You'll need to get your hands on those,' he told her. 'They're the key to their power.'

His voice had started to grow quieter, and Cordelia blinked several times thinking that her eye-sight was failing her. Doyle appeared to be fading from her sight. 'Doyle?' she asked, confused.

'Time's up, darlin',' he told her sadly. 'You need to get back now. I've told you all I can.'

'Doyle,' she said, tears choking her once more. 'Thank you.'

With that he was gone. And so was she.

* * *

She sat up with a gasp, startling Angel out of his misery induced stupor. He blinked in amazement. 

'Cordy?' he asked, uncertain whether he was dreaming or awake.

Wordlessly she embraced him. If he wasn't a vampire and imbued with a certain amount of super strength, she probably would have cracked a few of his ribs in the ferocity of her hug.

Finally she pulled away and looked at his handsome face, stained with tears of relief.

'We need to talk to the others,' she told him seriously. 'We just ran out of time.'

* * *

_To Be Continued..._


	14. Through the Looking Glass Again

_Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay- it was a combination of writer's block, finishing up college (which I finally did yesterday!) and finishing the CSI fic I was working on. What can I say - I'm a busy girl... :-)_

_As ever, thanks to everyone who reviewed - you guys rock! bluecarru - regarding your review for 'Belief' - I do have a sequel in the works, I just haven't had time to do anything about it yet. Working on two fics at once is tough - three would send me looney! I'll get 'Evermore' moved along a little way further, then i'll start on the Kathy/Belief sequel - sometime during the summer, I promise :-)_

_Anyway, I had a tough time with this chapter - again, it's kind of a filler, I still had people who needed to be manouvered into position - but I think we're there now... Let me know what you think._

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (AGAIN)

* * *

Rieff looked around the ballroom of the Hyperion Hotel, feeling more and more beleaguered by the moment. Although they had suffered no fatalities, each and every one of those who had taken part in the fight bore some kind of injury. These were not slayers. These were not warriors of any kind. In the midst of the real battle that was coming, he did not think it likely that many would survive.

What compounded his despair was the fact that at least 30 of their number were missing. He guessed that the Anomovics who had disagreed with joining the fight had disappeared before the attack, accompanied by maybe a handful of the Kwaini. They had obviously taken their wives and children along with them. He hoped they had gotten well clear of the hotel before the Scourge had gotten there. He hoped they could run as far away as they could from harm.

As for himself, Rieff could run no longer.

Running had done nothing but demoralize his people. It hadn't saved them. Death came swiftly upon them whether they ran five hundred miles or five thousand. So he had come to decision. Others could continue to run, to evade, trying to survive as best they could. But he could no longer do so. He would stand and fight and defend his people as best he could. He wasn't delusional. He knew he probably wouldn't survive. But if it meant that even a handful of his people survived to carry on the clan, it would be worth it. Meeting Doyle and Angel four years ago had taught him one thing, and it was a thing that he had held sacred from that day to this.

There are some things worth dying for.

* * *

'The closest hot spot to open a portal is Caritas,' Angel said, eyeing Lorne. The green demon was looking less happy by the minute. 

There were gathered in the office, talking strategy now that Cordelia had filled them in on everything she'd found out from Doyle.

'I don't want to split our forces up, Angel,' Buffy said apprehensively. 'This could be what they want. We're already outnumbered as it is.'

'Buffy, if we don't stop the Senior Partners in Pylea, it won't make a blind bit of difference _how _the battle goes here. We'll still have lost,' Cordy insisted.

Angel nodded at both women's points. 'We'll take a small force. There's only, what? Fifty demon guards or so?'

'Plus three unstoppable, all powerful, really _really_ evil demons,' the Seer added.

'Ten Slayers, Buffy.' Angel looked at his former lover. 'That's all I ask.'

Silently, Buffy nodded.

A thought occurred to Cordelia. 'And Giles.'

'What?' Giles' head popped up. 'Why me?'

'Doyle _told _me, the key to stopping Wolfram and Hart lies in those books,' she told him. 'We need you to translate.'

'If we can find them,' Lorne said gloomily. 'They're _somewhere _is Pylea.'

'Damnit! I forgot about that,' Angel exclaimed. Off the confused faces of the Scooby Gang, he quickly filled them in. 'Books that open the dimensional portals from this end don't cross over to Pylea. And vice versa. So when we took the books from the palace to help us get home, they stayed behind when we went through the portal.'

'We'll just have to start from there and work our way out,' Cordy said, worried, but with other problems on her mind. Like how exactly they were ever going to stop the unstoppable force of the Senior Partners.

'Okay, we need to mobilize,' Faith stated, getting to her feet. 'I'll go see the troops. Pick nine girls who wanna party with me in another dimension.'

Buffy did a double take. 'You're… you're going? Faith… there's a couple thousand demons about to descend on us here. The girls need you…'

'They got you, B,' Faith told her. 'Kennedy can be your second in command for a change. The way I figure it, this war's being fought on two fronts. Time to divide and conquer.'

Kennedy smirked. 'Uh, Faith, I think whoever said that meant you should divide your enemy's forces… not your own.'

The dark-haired slayer shrugged. 'Whatever.'

As she left the room, Buffy looked at Xander. 'Xand. Weapons, weapons, weapons.'

He looked eager. 'Ooh. Rocket launcher?'

She looked open to the idea. 'Whatever you can lay your hands on. Take a team. You got three hours.'

He nodded, getting to his feet. 'I'm on it,' he told her as he marched with purpose towards the door. Angel called out to him as he left.

'There might still be a flame thrower in the basement.'

'Thanks man,' Xander called over his shoulder as he left.

* * *

Dawn left the meeting in the 'war room' to find Willow, who had been conspicuous by her absence. She was surprised to find her sitting serenely in the garden, cross-legged and her hands stretched out over the grass. 

She was even more surprised to see that her hair had turned to a shimmering white.

Not wanting to disturb the witch, but unable to tear her eyes away from the sight before her, Dawn stood, transfixed, until Willow opened her eyes.

'Hey Dawnie,' she smiled.

'Hey. What… uh…?'

Willow smiled again, knowing full well what Dawn was referring to. Folding her hands in her lap, she felt the glowing subside, and knew that her hair had now returned to its natural, red-headed state.

'I'm just recharging my batteries,' she explained. 'Tapping into the earth for power. This battle coming up? I'm going to need all the juice I can get.'

'I hear that,' the young woman replied. 'I'm heading out. Xander's on weapons gathering and I'm one of his recruits. You wanna come?'

The witch shook her head and gestured back at the ground. 'I'd better… you know.'

Dawn nodded. 'Yeah. See you later.'

* * *

Cordy reached into the weapons cupboard and took out her favorite sword. Setting it to one side, she proceeded to grab crossbow bolts from the shelf, to go with the crossbow she'd already packed into the bag at her feet. A small axe and dagger followed. She packed in a hurry. They needed to be out of there as quickly as possible. 

'Hope you're not snagging my favorite broadsword,' a quiet voice teased from behind her.

Without turning around, she smiled broadly. 'Oh don't worry; I'd never deprive you of your favorite sword. You're really Freudian about it.'

His strong hands were on her shoulders then, pulling her a little closer. 'I feel like I've barely seen you since you've been back… And now we're heading into battle.' The sorrow and worry in his voice tugged at her heart. She turned to face him.

'Hey, we're going _together_,' she told him, flashing him a brave smile. 'We'll be fine. _You've _got to stop worrying. You'll give yourself frown lines.'

'Ha ha,' he smirked back. Immediately, his face became serious again. He brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and cradled the side of her face in his palm. 'You okay?'

Her expression was unwavering as she looked straight back at him. 'I will be a lot better if you stop worrying about me. We're going to get through this. We're going to go to Pylea, kick some demon butt and come home again.'

He still looked worried. 'How do you know that? We don't…'

'Hey buster!' she switched on her sternest voice. 'We're going to be fine because _I _say so. I'm Cordelia, remember? I _always_ get my own way.'

Despite himself, Angel let out a laugh. Stooping, he picked up the bag she'd been packing. 'You ready to go?'

With a lot more bravery than she actually felt, she smiled and took his hand. 'You betcha.'

* * *

Buffy was trying to talk battle strategy with Kennedy, Rieff and Rondell as Angel and Cordelia approached them. 

'Freakin' demons man,' Rondell was saying aggressively. 'I'm not surprised they turned tale and ran. What surprises me is that the rest of you didn't follow.'

'Is there a problem here?' Angel asked, giving Rondell his steely glare.

'Around 30 demons took off before the Scourge attacked,' Buffy replied before the street fighter could get any more insults in. 'You ready to head out?'

'Yeah,' Angel replied, his eyes still trained on Rondell. 'Buffy's in command of our entire army. That _includes_ your guys, Rondell. So, follow _all _her commands to the letter. Are we clear?'

'Or what?' the street fighter drawled back. 'You gonna kick my ass?'

'No. But Buffy probably will,' the vampire replied, leaning closer. 'And just between you and me, she's a little stronger than I am. So I wouldn't piss her off if I was you.'

Buffy tried not to smile at Angel's last comment, and instead looked to Kennedy. 'Round up around four girls to relieve the ones watching the enemy camp. Then make sure everyone's got weapons.' She turned her attention to the other two Captains within her newly formed army. 'The two of you brief your troops. They take command from you; you take it directly from me. Make sure you're all armed and ready. This could go down any time now.'

She turned her attention to Cordelia and Angel. 'Come on. I'll see you off.'

* * *

'Faith, I told you. I went back _once_. I'm not doing it again.' 

'Come on, big guy. Who's gonna hold my hand as we go through the portal?'

Angel and Cordelia exchanged worried glances. From the sounds of things, Lorne really wasn't relishing the prospect of returning to Pylea.

'Last time I went home, I got my _head chopped off_! Not to mention the fact that I had to _see my mother_ – which is infinitely worse.'

Faith spotted potential allies coming her way and immediately attempted to enlist them. 'Angel! Help me out here.'

Lorne turned to face the vampire, his eyes almost daring him to give an order.

Angel looked him squarely in the eye, keeping his face as neutral as possible. 'Lorne, I'm not going to tell you to do this,' he sighed. 'I want you on my team. We need you. But if you don't want to, or can't… then I'll have to respect that.'

Without waiting for a reply, he walked over to his son, who was near the front door of the lobby.

Lorne looked at Cordelia in surprise. 'Who is that, and what have you done to Angel?'

Cordy smiled. 'Come on. Grab a crossbow or something. He might not be prepared to force you to come, but I sure as hell am.'

Admitting defeat, Lorne slunk off towards the weapons cabinet. Cordy could have sworn she heard him mutter, 'The gods save me from feisty women,' under his breath as he went.

Cordelia went to join the others at the door as Buffy was charging Angel and Faith with Giles' welfare.

'I'm not utterly helpless, Buffy,' Giles told her indignantly. 'I can defend myself, you know. I seem to remember that it was I that trained you.'

Any further tirade was cut off when Buffy hugged him tightly. 'Just be careful.'

'Nine companions,' Andrew intoned tearfully. 'Or… er, that is 15 companions…' he corrected as Lorne joined the group. 'Set out on their quest…'

Giles cut him off abruptly. '_Do not_ start quoting the Lord of the bloody Rings,' he told the young watcher. Andrew opened his mouth to say something else, but the Englishman got in first. 'Or Star Wars. _Or_ Dungeons and Dragons.'

Andrew was still pouting when they left the hotel.

* * *

The charred ruin of Caritas came into view as they drove up the alleyway to the service entrance at the back of the club. 

'This is so depressing,' Lorne moaned from the back of the van. 'I haven't seen this place since the last time you blew it up.'

Faith shot Angel a look of surprise. 'You blew up his club?'

'It wasn't me!'

'You say potato, I say po-tah-to,' the green demon quipped back.

Angel rolled his eyes as he got out of the van. He gestured to Connor to give him a hand. Together they broke open the loaning bay doors into what used to be Lorne's bedroom. The fire had gutted the building, and a wall no longer blocked their way from the back room to the main room of the club.

Climbing back into the driver's seat, he cast a glance to one side, looking at Cordelia and Connor. 'You guys ready?'

'Oh sure. Cuz jumping into other dimensions via portals? Always goes well,' the brunette quipped. 'Let's do this before I run screaming for the nearest exit.'

Shifting the van into gear, he drove into the building and pulled up a few feet away from where the stage had once stood.

'Giles. You're on,' he announced to the Watcher, who moved forward towards the front of the vehicle, the scroll clutched in his hand.

'Krv Drpglr pwlzchkwrt strplmt dwghzn prqlrzn lffrmtplzt,' he read, a hint of incredulity in his voice.

'Let's hope it's not out of batteries,' Angel said under his breath, before the swirling began. The room shifted, and the whirlpool grew until it was large enough to admit the van they were in.

'Hold on to your hats,' Angel said over the noise, as he drove towards the portal.

'Here we go again.'

* * *

_TO BE CONTINUED..._


	15. What's Better Than a Rocket Launcher?

_**Authors Note: **First off, I apologise for such a huge delay between updates. I was distracted by a wonderful holiday to Lanzarote, followed by an extended bout of writer's block... I've always known the broad stroke of what would happen in the story, but it's the little details that kill me sometimes._

_As always, thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I'm sorry I kept you waiting and hope you'll continue to enjoy the story. You guys inspire me! _**Xephon**-_ I'm guessing you're not the worlds biggest Buffy fan. Sorry you don't approve of Buffy being general, but it made perfect sense to me - Hey, she's annoyed me too at times, but I can't imagine anyone else doing it. _

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Angel, Buffy or anything else, really, except for the PC I wrote this on and an extensive DVD collection. However, if my plot to take over the world is successful, things will change... :-)

**Reviews: **As ever, read and review and I'll love you forever...

**CHAPTER 15: WHAT'S BETTER THAN A ROCKET LAUNCHER?**

* * *

The light from the twin suns bathed the field in golden light. Two birds fluttering overhead suddenly squawked and flew away quickly as a swirling portal opened, spitting forth its passengers.

Angel squealed the van to a halt and looked around. The area didn't look particularly familiar to him.

'Uh, Lorne? Any idea where we are?'

The green-demon sat forward and looked out the windshield at the area before them.

'Uh… yeah. I think it kinda looks familiar.

Reaching across to the side door of the van, he popped it open and stepped out into the mid-morning sunlight. The smell of the air made him shudder. Damn it all, he was home again. Looking around, he spotted a familiar lane that passed for a road in these parts.

'That way,' he pointed.

Angel had gotten out of the van himself and now came to stand at Lorne's elbow. 'You sure?'

'Sure I'm sure. My _mother's_…' he spat the word out with a mixture of contempt and distaste, '…farm is over that ridge. And we opened our last portal home just west of there.'

The vampire nodded. 'West it is then,' he agreed.

Angel turned to get back in the van when he saw Cordelia standing, staring at him. A ghost of a smile played on her lips. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing,' she smiled a little wider. 'I just… I guess it's been a while since I saw you in daylight.'

Angel smiled and turned his face towards the twin suns, closing his eyes and savoring their heat. As he stood there, he felt her hand slip into his. He drew her towards him, wrapping his arms around her frame without opening his eyes. For a moment, he could almost hear his heart beat, standing with her in the sun. Then a shadow crossed his heart as he remembered the future he had signed away. His chance of being human gone, he wondered what kind of a future he could ever offer the woman in his arms.

A throat cleared behind them. Angel opened his eyes and saw Lorne, his arms crossed, what passed for a stern expression etched on his face.

'I hate to break up this beautiful moment you two. But in case you hadn't noticed, we're kinda against the clock. And, more importantly, I want to get the hell outta here as soon as!'

Cordy suppressed a grin and withdrew herself from Angel's embrace, all business once more. 'So are we hiding the van and going incognito?'

'Like Lorne said, we're against the clock,' Angel replied. 'Maybe we should take it.'

'A van in this dimension? That'll be wicked conspicuous,' Faith commented from the van's door.

'No choice,' the vampire replied. 'We need to find those books and get to the Senior Partners. We're not going to do that fast enough on foot.'

Faith shrugged in acceptance. 'Let's hit the road then.'

* * *

Buffy paced the inner office nervously, psyching herself up for facing her troops. Since she'd left Sunnydale, she had pretty much left all the training and slayer duties to Faith, at her sister's and her friends' insistence. She was burned out, they said. She needed time to grieve for Spike. To rebuild a new life for her and Dawn in Europe. And it would be good for Faith, Willow and Giles had told her. Give her a purpose, a focus. So Buffy had passed the torch, as it were, to the dark-haired slayer.

And, in the deepest recesses of Buffy's mind, it had been a huge relief. The two years or so since her mom had died had been hell on earth. The grief process. Coping with Dawn. Her own death and painful resurrection. And then the apocalypse to end all apocalypses (or so she had thought at the time). She had become world-weary and not a little bitter, and had begun to understand why slayers never lived very far into their twenties. If the demons didn't kill you then the bitterness, the isolation and the responsibility would.

But now. Now she wasn't alone. Every girl who could be a slayer was. All of the potentials had received their Slayerhood, and the weight of the world was no longer on her shoulders alone. And it had been wonderful. She still slayed when she needed to, when demons or vampires had crossed her path. She still discussed strategy with Giles and Faith when the need arose. But for the most part she was free.

Faith had proved herself to be a remarkable leader, tirelessly training the new girls and taking them under her wing. Buffy couldn't help but be impressed by her. So impressed, in fact, that the three months Buffy had planned on taking off from active Slayer duties suddenly became 6 months. And 6 months was quickly turning into a year. Buffy had often wondered in these past few weeks if she would have ever gone back at all, if the LA battle hadn't happened.

She knew that was the main reason Faith had decided to go to Pylea. The brunette had nearly admitted as much to her the day before.

'You need to start getting to know these girls, Buffy,' Faith had told her. 'They're your troops too.'

'You trained them,' she had replied. 'They know you. They trust you.'

Faith had shaken her head in frustration. 'You've been out of the saddle too long, girlfriend. Its time you got back on.'

Voices in the lobby brought her out of her reverie. Xander was back.

'Hey Buff!' he greeted her as she left the safety of the office. 'Check it out. What's better than a rocket launcher?'

_Was this one of his weird jokes?_ She shrugged, not really knowing how to respond.

He gestured excitedly to the crates some of the slayers had just set down. '_Two_ rocket launchers!'

Buffy was stunned. 'You stole _two_ rocket launchers?'

'What? Too much?' Xander grinned. 'The army base was totally deserted. Guess they've bunked out. We got some grenades too. And we swung by that big sports equipment store. Crossbows, arrows and some more swords.'

The look of amazement on Buffy's face morphed into a huge smile.

'Did I do good, or did I do good?' He preened, obviously very pleased with himself.

'You did great,' she told him. Leave it to Xander to come through. 'Let's get everyone together and talk some strategy.'

* * *

The van got some very bewildered looks as it drove past a small village in Pylea. One of the children present burst into hysterical screams and ran into a house.

'Guess horseless carriages still haven't made it here yet,' Cordelia wryly observed. Her eyes lit up at another thought. 'Which means that polyester hasn't either. So, call it a plus side.'

'Let's just get out of here, Angelcakes, okay?'

Angel could see what Lorne was nervous about. Several male demons had gathered and were pointing towards the van with rakes and shovels as they drove past. Speeding up, he drove away from the village quickly and went up over the hill towards their destination.

Coming to an abrupt stop, Angel took a look around. This was the place. He glanced sideways at Cordy for confirmation. She nodded.

'Okay, everyone out,' he announced. 'We need to do this quick, before those villagers tell someone we're here.'

'Everybody fan out,' Faith ordered the slayers. 'We work outwards from the van in circular formation. Everyone stay within yelling distance for now.'

Giles regarded the surrounding area. Behind them was the hill they had just come over. They were currently in a green pasture, with no distinguishing features save for a few boulders here and there. To the west lay a dense wood. The hopelessness of their situation drove itself home.

'Angel? How long has it been since you were here?'

'3 years, give or take.'

The watcher had feared as much. 'The likelihood of the books still being here or anywhere in the area…'

'I know, Giles,' Angel turned to the Watcher, showing for a moment his own hopelessness before the hero's veil came down in his eyes once more. 'But we have to try, don't we? Cordy's vision, or whatever it was… Doyle told her we need those books if we're going to win.'

The Englishman took of his glasses with a sigh, needlessly polishing them on his sweater. 'Angel, I know I don't need to tell you this. You've been through this before countless times and I know you know what the stakes are…' He paused, unsure of how to continue.

'You're trying to warn me that we may not win.' It wasn't a question. Giles nodded but said nothing, waiting for the other man's reaction. 'I know the odds are stacked. They always are… I know that this time, it may be the hardest thing we've ever faced… But, I know something else too.' Angel looked Giles straight in the eye. 'I know that I'm going into that fortress to face the biggest, most unstoppable evil that I've ever come up against, and I'm being forced by some prophecy to go in their with my son and the woman I love! And I'll be damned before I'll take them in there without some kind of guarantee that they'll get out again! We need those books.'

He stormed off towards the trees, desperately searching for some trace of the books, or some trail of whoever might have taken them. He knew that Giles was right, that three years on the chances of finding the books were next to impossible. But he also knew he had to try. Now that they were in Pylea, the prospect of Cordelia and Connor going into that fortress with him was even more terrifying. They were all he had left, and the prospect of losing them…

The sound of something flying at speed through the air distracted him from his thoughts. Looking up, he moved only just in time to avoid being skewered by a long wooden spear.

* * *

'We need a moat.'

The assemblage of Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander, Kennedy and a dozen or so Slayers, along with their new human and demon alleys, all turned with varying looks of bewilderment at the statement. For a moment, no one could speak.

'What?' Andrew asked, puzzled. 'I think a moat might help. I always thought it was the one thing missing from the defenses at Helm's Deep. If they had a moat, the Deeping Wall might never have been blown up.'

Finally, Buffy found her voice. 'You know, I miss the old, bound and gagged Andrew.'

'No, wait. Seriously,' he insisted. 'If we had a moat, filled with, like… I don't know… gasoline or oil or something… then we could fire flaming arrows into it when the demons try to cross…'

'You _do_ like flaming arrows, Buffy,' Dawn commented, a giggle choking her.

'Andrew! We're in the middle of LA!' the Slayer said, exasperated. 'Not in the middle of… _Robin Hood Prince of Thieves_! ... Can we get back on topic? Now, from what we've learnt from recon, they've been recruiting a lot of vamps into their forces.'

'Yeah,' Rondell cut in. 'They're grabbing a lot of folks from the downtown area and turning them. People who couldn't afford to leave, the homeless, whoever the can lay their demon hands on. Big numbers.'

'How many?'

'My guys reckon on maybe five hundred vamps…'

The group sucked in a breath as one.

'Oh jeez, relax,' Willow remarked. 'The vamps are the easy part. If I were you, I'd worry about all the hell-beasts and that dragon.'

'What's your plan?' Buffy asked.

Willow smirked. 'Just a little idea Xander and I have about one of our rocket launchers. We'll work out the kinks and get back to you.'

'Great. So, we'll have around 20 Slayers on roof tops with crossbows. Left flank on the ground will be Rondell and your guys. Right flank Rieff and your men.' Rondell let out a derisive snort which Buffy chose to ignore. 'Both your teams will be backed up by slayers – 10 or 15 each.'

'We don't need no back up!'

Buffy looked Rondell straight in the eye. 'You're guys are good fighters, I won't deny that. But you're all human and unless you're holding out on me, none of you have superpowers. So you're getting back up.' Rondell opened his mouth to argue. 'End of discussion,' the Slayer said forcefully.

She turned to Kennedy. 'You'll take the rest of the slayers down the centre. Xander, grenades, rocket launchers, flaming arrows, flame thrower. Take whoever you need and have them positioned behind the main line. Dawnie, you're with him. Willow?' she looked at the red head sitting opposite her.

'Front and centre at your side.'

* * *

Angel turned to see more than a dozen villagers charging towards them, armed with a variety of rakes, hoes, shovels and spears. Several of the Pyleans eyed the van warily and gave it wide birth, but they continued to charge towards them nonetheless.

'Welcoming committee,' Faith remarked. 'Friends of yours?'

'Not especially,' Angel replied. 'But, no matter what they look like, they're just farmers Faith.' His tone made his implication clear. Faith immediately turned to her troops.

'_Defense_ only,' she yelled to them. 'No killing blows!'

The Slayers got into formation with liquid precision. Most of them were armed with swords or axes, but didn't bother to unsheathe them, preferring to ready themselves for hand to hand.

Angel tore off a sturdy branch off a nearby tree at tossed it to Cordelia. 'You remember how to stave, don't you?'

By the look on her face, he was going to pay for that remark later. Connor ran to his side. 'Go easy on them, kid.'

The younger man regarded his father wryly. 'Funny, I was just about to say the same to you.'

Running forward, they met the villagers head on. They could see another five or six in the background, running to join their comrades. Angel grabbed hold of a rake as it swung towards him, snatching it from his would-be attacker's grasp and flinging it away, before tossing the now unarmed demon away from the main battle. Another ran forward to take his place.

A burly farmer with a shovel ran at Cordelia and she raised her make-shift staff to defend herself. Her size and agility gave her the edge, however, and she danced around him, keeping him off balance and unable to land a successful blow. She raised the staff to counter yet another attempt, and drove the shovel up and backwards, totally unbalancing her opponent. Swinging her staff around, she caught him across the stomach, winding him and landing him flat on his back.

Predictably, the farmers and villagers were no match for the Slayers. In moments, they lay at their feet, groaning from various minor injuries their opponents had inflicted upon them.

Angel turned to the rest of the group. 'Right, now that that's taken care off…'

Before he could complete his sentence a warrior leapt from the trees and held a blade to his throat before he could move to counter the attack.

'Angel the Drokken killer. You have dared to return?'

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	16. Defenses

**Author's Note: I am so sorry for the delay between updates. My only excuse is that I am being _way _too easily distracted these days. I'll try to be a little more prompt with updates in the future.**

**Thank you so so much for the reviews! I can not adequately express how much they mean to me. It makes me so happy that you guys are enjoying the story, and I really hope you continue to do so. Big love and hugs to you all.**

**A quick shout out to 'Nobody' who left a review asking if I'd considered bring Riley and the team into the story. Yes, I had planned to do so way back when I was planning this story. I actually had a whole story arc vaguely planned. But then I read an absolutely _Incredible_ post-NFA big battle fanfic, and Riley and his troops came into the story there, and I just didn't want to do it because a) Mine would have been too similar and b) there was no way I could top that story. So, sorry, Riley won't be back... **

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know if you do.**

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: DEFENSES**

* * *

'Landok?' 

'Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan? I hardly thought you would dare return to Pylea after the further disgrace you brought upon your family.'

Lorne shrugged. 'Trust me; I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be.'

'And as for you, Angel the Drokken killer, not only have you returned, but you have brought a whole herd of cows with you?'

Faith stepped forward. 'Hey! Who are you calling 'cows', green-boy?'

Angel looked at the sword still threatening him and then at the demon who held it, thinking he'd prefer to gain an ally than an enemy out of this encounter, if he could. 'Hey, Landok. You wanna get that sword away from my throat?' he asked politely.

Landok lowered his weapon but regarded Angel warily for a moment.

'As I was passing the village of Klandon-mar, I was beset by hordes of panicked villagers, all claiming to have seen a strange wheel-ed demon go past, and that many of their men folk had gone off in pursuit. I followed to help slay the beast.'

'Well, as you can see Landok, no demons in need of slaying here,' Lorne told him. 'So, you know, good seeing you. Feel free not to mention seeing _me_ to the rest of the family.'

'Lorne, wait. Landok might be able to help us,' Cordy suggested. She moved closer to the Pylean. 'Do you remember me?'

'You are the revered Princess of this dimension, cursed with the Sight and friend to Angel the Drokken killer and my less noble kinsman, Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan.'

Faith sniggered. 'Is that Cordy's _full _title now?'

Ignoring the Slayer, Cordelia gave Landok a small smile. 'Uh, yeah. Well, your Princess needs your help. We're looking for three books. Leather-bound, animals on the front covers. They would have been left behind, in this field, when we went back home three years ago.'

Landok considered this for a moment. Then he nodded. 'The books of which you speak were found by a villager.'

'What happened to them?' Angel asked.

'They were returned to the Palace of course.'

* * *

His tongue stuck out from between his teeth as Xander loosened another screw. 

'You really think this is gonna work?' he asked his red-headed companion.

'Absolutely,' she replied with confidence she didn't quite feel. At his look, her smile faltered somewhat. 'Almost sixty percent certain.'

'Sixty percent,' he nodded. 'In this situation, I guess I'll take those odds.'

Willow finished grinding the powder she had been working on and started pouring it into the half dozen steel cylinders before her. 'It's bound to work, Xand. Its just… a little bigger than we've done it before.'

She handed him a cylinder and they both began to screw the tops back on.

'So, what's next?'

She considered for a moment. 'You know. I've been thinking about Andrew's idea.'

Xander looked confused for a moment. 'Getting an army of Elves coming to help us out?'

The witch rolled her eyes. 'No. His moat. It might be something worth trying… Our defenses are really weak.'

'It worries me that you think Andrew is capable of having a good idea.'

Willow smiled. 'Can you finish up here? I want to check something out.'

Willow made her way along the corridor from the kitchens, where she and Xander had been working, intent on finding Kennedy. As she rounded a corner, she heard something.

Standing still for a moment, she looked around. 'Hello?'

Nothing.

Shrugging and muttering, 'Pre-battle jitters' to herself, she continue on her way.

She was within sight of the lobby when two arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her into a disused room.

* * *

Buffy had doubled patrols of the area surrounding the hotel and sent a squad of Slayers to take over recon of the enemy camp. She had no intention of letting the demons sneak up on them. 

Meanwhile, teams of Slayers were working on their defenses; building barricades with whatever materials they could lay their hands on. It was not how she normally liked to fight her battles. Usually, she was all about the attack. But on this point, Angel had made himself clear before he left for Pylea.

'Buffy, if you march into their camp, you'll be playing by their rules, on their turf. Who knows what kinds of magical shields or defenses the Wolfram and Hart building now has that we don't know about. Make them come to you. Be ready for them.'

She had a force of around three hundred - including their demon and human allies – at least two thirds of whom she knew were highly-trained and ready for this battle. But would it be enough?

The doubts which had assaulted her earlier now came back with a vengeance. Could she lead these girls, this army, as well as Faith could? Had she asked herself this question two years before, she would have had no doubt of the answer. Now? Now, she wasn't sure of anything.

* * *

The Palace looked just as Cordelia had remembered it. Standing proudly at one end of what passed for a town in Pylea. The town, however, was unnaturally quiet. 

'Who's living in the Palace now?' she asked Landok.

'The Covenant of Trombli.'

'What happened to the Republic? The government of the people?'

The demon looked grave. 'After the Groosalug abdicated the throne and left this dimension, the Covenant grew strong again. They began to take back their former power. And they found great support in the Guardians of the Dark Fortress. The cows that held power within the new government were slaughtered.'

Cordelia felt another drop of guilt add itself to the pool within her soul. She had been the cause of Groo leaving Pylea. If he had not come to look for her, would this have happened?

'What happened to the Pyleans in the government?' Angel asked him.

'Those citizens were tried as traitors. I do not know what became of them.'

'Hasn't anyone done anything to stop them?' Cordy asked, outraged. 'You just _let _them take over and start killing people?'

'People have _tried,_ Princess,' the demon replied. 'Many citizens have disappeared after uttering _one word_ of defiance.'

'These Guardians of the Dark Fortress,' Angel asked. 'Know anything about them?'

'They are powerful. A great evil. None that have gone into the Fortress have ever returned.'

'Well, we're going in there. But first, we need to get into the Palace and find those books.'

'If is a foolhardy mission, Angel. You and your friends will surely perish.'

Angel considered the Palace before him. In theory, everything was quiet. They could probably get in and out without too much difficulty. But the Dark Fortress was a different matter entirely. They might need some help.

'Landok, Pylea is still a land of champions, right?'

The demon nodded. 'As a race, we give thanks to our Life-Giver by seeking justice and glory in the hunt.'

'Well how about helping us seek justice? Can you gather as many champions as you can find and meet us at the Fortress?'

Landok's eyes widened at the suggestion. 'I do not seek to stand against the darkness that resides in that Fortress.'

Lorne snorted. 'Good to see the family cowardice doesn't extend only to me,' he said sarcastically. 'This from the guy who accused me of cowardice for not taking part in a joust.'

'I am no coward, Krevlorneswath! But I do not seek to engage in politics and power struggles. My life has never changed no matter the power that ruled over this land. I seek only to protect my family, to honor my Life-Giver and to ensure myself a noble death.'

Cordelia touched his arm, making him look down at her. 'Landok, if the darkness from the Fortress spreads, your life _will _change. They are attacking LA right now, but soon they'll destroy everything here too. Your family, your way of life. It'll all be gone. The evil is spreading already. You can feel it. I know you can.'

Landok nodded reluctantly.

'Fighting them is the _noble _thing to do,' she continued. 'You would be helping to protect your family, your entire dimension.'

He said nothing, but inclined his head once more.

'So you'll help us?'

He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment. Then he looked her in the eyes. 'Yes, my Princess. I will assist you. I will gather all those I can find and meet you at the Dark Fortress before sunset.'

'Thank you.'

* * *

Willow left the room looking shell-shocked. After many years of fighting demons, practicing witch-craft, and everything else that she had experienced growing up on the Hellmouth and beyond, she supposed that not much should surprise her. But, every now and then, she was wrong… 

She found Buffy talking to Kennedy in the lobby.

'It's not high enough,' the younger Slayer was saying. 'And I don't know if it's ever gonna be.'

'Problems?' Willow asked as she joined them.

'Our defenses,' Buffy replied, looking worried. 'They're still not strong enough and we're running out of time.'

'I have an idea about that. Don't worry,' the witch replied with a lot more confidence that she felt. 'Listen, Buff, I'll take care of this. There's someone… someone you need to talk to.'

'Will, I don't have time…'

'Please. Trust me on this. It's someone you _really _need to see. Don't worry about the defenses for now. Kennedy and me will look after them.'

Buffy still looked extremely dubious. 'Who do I _really _need to talk to?'

'You'll see. Just, go down that corridor,' Willow told her, pointing the way she had just come. 'First door on your right.'

Rolling her eyes, Buffy sighed and did as she was told. Willow then turned to her lover.

'Kennedy, we have a lot of work to do. We need maybe twenty Slayers and Rondell and some of his guys if this is going to work.'

Just then, Andrew ambled into the lobby. 'Hey. Need a hand?'

Willow smiled. 'Actually, yes, Andrew. Time to put your plan into action.'

* * *

Vi and Rona, along with four other slayers, watched over the enemy camp from their rooftop vantage point a few blocks away. 

'This is insane,' Rona mumbled to Vi. 'There are thousands of them.'

'More insane than climbing down into the Hellmouth full of thousands of Turok-hans?' Vi asked wryly. 'We got out of that alright.'

'Some of us did,' Rona replied sadly. 'And some of us, only just.'

As ever, before a battle, Rona found herself remembering the one that started it all, her first battle as a fully-fledge Slayer. Despite the slayer-strength bestowed upon all of them that day, so many still hadn't made it out alive. And Rona firmly believed that, were it not for the woman sitting next to her now, she would have joined them in death.

_The school bus hurtled down the road, barely staying ahead of the growing crater that seemed to be chasing them. The wounded lay all around her, moans of pain and of loss filling the air. _

_Rona could feel herself slipping away. Blood poured from her wounds, each drop pulling her closer and closer to death. Vi, blood flowing down her own face, was shaking her, screaming at her, telling her not to let go._

'_Look at me! This is nothing! Stay awake! This is nothing!'_

_Rona could feel the darkness pulling her, but Vi wouldn't let her go._

She was stirred from her memories by movement below.

'What's going on?'

Vi leaned forward, her stomach turning over as she realized. _This was it_.

'They're gearing up. Forming ranks,' Vi turned to the rest of the group. 'Paula, Jane, run straight back to the hotel and tell them the enemy are getting ready to move out. We'll stay until they start moving.'

* * *

Still muttering to herself about bossy friends and wasting time, Buffy walked down the corridor and straight up to the first door on the right. 

'This had better be good, Will,' she mumbled as she turned the handle and opened the door.

The first thought that entered her head was that she was unable to form a coherent thought.

The person standing opposite locked eyes with her, and she thought she saw a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

'Hello love.'

* * *

_To Be Continued..._

**Author's Note - I am never again writing a story with so many characters in it. I was feeling bad for not having any development or mention of specific slayers, so I put in the scene with Rona and Vi, and now I've just realised that Giles, Connor and Dawn weren't mentioned once during this entire chapter. My head is melting. The next story I write will have two people in it! LOL.**


	17. Gifts

**Author's Note: Again, I'm really sorry in the delay between updates. It seems the more free-time I have, the less I seem to be able to write... I'll try to pick up the pace from now on. Please bear with me. I hope the fact that this is pretty long makes up for the wait :-)**

**Many of you have already guessed who Buffy's mystery visitor was - not very subtle am I? Tried to sneak some personal stuff into this chapter, cuz after this the big battle will be well and truly started... Hope you're still with me and that you're enjoying the story. Let me know if you are... (Reviews are my chocolate - feed the hungry author :-) )**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Buffy or Angel... I think the paperwork got lost in the mail...**

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: GIFTS **

* * *

Cordelia sat in the lotus position, carefully regulating her breathing, trying to focus her mind and rid herself of the little jolts of panic that shot through her body every few seconds. Doyle had told her that she needed to learn to control her powers if they were going to prevail in the coming battle. But how could she, if she didn't even know the full extend of what her new powers were?

She started a little when she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she smiled as Angel sat down at her side.

'You okay?' he asked softly, a look of concern prevalent in his eyes.

Shrugging, she sighed as he took her hand in his own. 'I'm trying to focus. You know, control my powers like Doyle told me to. But…'

'You don't know how?'

'Haven't a clue,' she smiled ironically. 'Some seer, huh? I can't even _see_ what I'm meant to be capable of.'

'Hey, you'll work it out,' he told her firmly. '_We'll_ work it out. This is your gift, Cordy. The powers wouldn't have given it to you if they didn't _know_ you could handle it.'

She looked at him then, with a mixture of amazement and love in her eyes. 'How do you do that?'

He was confused. 'Do what?'

'Somehow, make everything seem okay, even when it's not?'

Stooping closer to her, he smiled and whispered, 'It's my gift.'

He planted a soft kiss on her lips. She was amazed by the warmth of his lips. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered if it was yet another affect of being in Pylea or simply because their passion for each other heated their blood. Deciding she didn't care either way, she leaned into him, deepening the kiss, savoring the rare moment of them being this close and alone. The moment, however, was spoiled by the interruption of work.

A throat cleared behind them. 'Uh, guys?' Faith said, a smirk playing on her lips. 'I'd say 'get a room' but there's no time for hanky panky right now. We're ready to make tracks.'

While Cordy rolled her eyes, Angel looked at the dark-haired slayer, all business once more. 'The perimeter's been cleared?'

'Almost. There are just 6 guards that we can see. Two at the south gate, two at the north and two up on the north wall. Want to take them out right before we go in, incase there are more inside to tip off. I got four girls at the back gate and five at the front. We'll attack at the same time, right while the rest of us are sneaking in. Where's the best entrance point?' she asked Angel.

Cordy was the one to answer. 'Sewer tunnels. At the base of the north wall. It's how Wesley and Gunn snuck out of the castle before…'

A look of pain flashed across her eyes as she mentioned her fallen friend's names. Seeing it, Angel took her hand once more and squeezed it.

'The three of us, Giles, Lorne and Connor will go in. The rest of the slayer can make sure the exits are kept clear.'

'Sounds good. Let's get this party started,' Faith replied.

* * *

'Well, for a Slayer, you do a pretty decent impression of a fish.' 

Buffy had lost track of how long she'd been standing there, staring at this impossible sight. But it wasn't impossible. He was here. Right in front of her. Grinning like the cat that got the proverbial cream.

'Spike?'

'Remembered my name now, have you?'

Without another word, Buffy crossed the distance between them and flung her arms around his neck. A little startled at this ready display of affection, it took a moment for Spike to return her hug. He was even more startled when he felt tears against his neck. The brave, stubborn slayer was crying softly on his shoulder.

'Hey, now. None of that,' he told her softly when he found his voice.

Pulling away, she smiled, embarrassed, as she wiped her eyes.

'Sorry,' she replied, giving herself a mental shake. 'How?'

He smirked. 'I cut a deal with the blue fairy, and now I'm a real boy.' Off her look of disbelief, he shrugged. 'The Powers figured they owed me – dying trying to save the world for a second time and all. They sent me back – temporary arrangement.'

'Temporary?'

'Like the time the sent Cordy back for a day. To get her champion back on track.' He smiled at her, his eyes searching hers. 'I've got a champion of my own to set straight.'

She looked at him, confused for a moment, before she got it. 'Me?'

'How many champions you think a guy like me has got?' he asked wryly.

'Spike, I'm _fine_.'

'Are you?' He watched as she attempted to nod, to reassure him in some way. Under his penetrating gaze, she seemed to shrink slightly before finally looking away. 'Your head hasn't really been in the game since you got here. Sure, you talked a good game, played the part, but it was like you were reading from a script. And now Faith's gone dimension hopping, leaving you on your tod, you're freaking out.'

'I'm _not_ freaking…'

'You bloody well are,' he said, moving towards her and placing his hands on her shoulders. 'I _know_ you, Buffy. I know how your mind works. You've somehow got it into that pretty head of yours that you're not as good a leader as Faith. And you need to put that right before you go into this fight. Otherwise, it could very well be your last.'

She huffed out a little sigh. 'So, you're gonna get all pep-talkie on me now?'

'If I have to,' he replied. 'I seem to remember I developed a bit of a skill for it, where you were concerned. And I could give you the whole spiel about you being the _one_, and being a hell of a woman, but I don't know if it'll do much good. I mean, _I_ still believe it. Question is, do you?'

She didn't answer, just continued to look at the floor, her eyes heavy and tired with the fresh tears she was holding back.

Very gently, he brushed a stray strand of hair from her face and cupped her cheek. 'When did you lose that fire? That spark?'

Her eyes misty with tears, she finally looked up at him. 'When I lost you.'

'You can't let the entire world go to hell over a dead vamp,' he told her. He tried to keep his voice light, but the tremor underneath his words belied the effect her admission had on him.

'I missed you.'

'Me too, pet. Me too.'

Slowly, she reached up to touch his face lovingly. He smiled as she ran her thumb across his lips. Leaning into him, she lifted her head to meet his, their lips brushing together in a tentative kiss. Buffy felt her tears begin to fall again as Spike wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, kissing her deeply.

* * *

The guards never saw the first shots coming. Simultaneously, two slayers shot off bolts from their crossbows, taking out the two guards on the north wall, while the rest moved forward to silence the guards at the north and south gates. It was all over in moments – something that made Cordelia more than a little nervous. It seemed all _too_ easy. 

The coast clear, she hurried forward, with Angel and the rest of her group, towards the sewer entrance.

'Should be around here somewhere,' she said, as they all scanned the base of the wall.

'Here,' Connor called out, as he pulled branches and other debris away from the gaping hole.

Stepping closer, Cordelia averted her face, her nose wrinkled up in disgust. 'Yep. That's it. And it actually smells worse than the last time…'

'Suck it up, Princess,' Faith told her. 'We're going in.'

'Slayer's first,' the Seer smirked back.

* * *

Willow grinned as the twenty Slayers, led by Andrew, came towards her. 

'Hi guys,' she greeted them. 'Up for a little magic?'

The looks she received ranged from confusion to trepidation.

'Uh, Willow?' Andrew asked, raising his hand in a ludicrous imitation of school. 'What does this have to do with my idea?'

Willow's grin broadened. 'We're going to make a moat.'

This time, the response she received was a little more pronounced. 'What?' 'Are you crazy?' 'There isn't time!' 'How are we meant to dig a moat?' The voices blended in a cacophony of disbelief.

'Trust me,' Willow told them. 'No digging involved.'

'Willow, this is beaucoup de mojo,' Kennedy remarked. 'Is it a good idea to use up that much of your energy this close to the fight?'

Willow smiled again. 'That's the beauty of my plan. I use a little bit of energy out of all you guys. That way, no one gets tapped out. It'll be the equivalent of each of you running round the block a couple of times – no big deal to you big strong slayer-types. So, you ready?'

The dark-haired Slayer nodded and then looked at her slayers. 'Okay ladies. Form a line from here all the way across the street to that point,' she barked out, pointing as she spoke. Without further questions, the girls moved into position.

'My girl, the Drill-Sergeant,' Willow commented quietly with a smile. Walking to the centre of the line, she took her own position beside Kennedy and took her hand. 'Okay, everyone hold hands,' she called out. 'This might tickle a little.'

Focusing on the ground in front of her, Willow began to chant.

'Hecate, Goddess, the forces of Hell gather around us, seeking to put out the light of good in the world. Give us your strength for protection. Use me as your vessel.' As she spoke, light began to emanate from her and around her, making her skin glow. She raised her eyes to the heavens. 'Semita est clausus. Semita est propinquus. Cavo profundus orbis terrarum. Servo nos ex Malum.' _( translation: "The Path is blocked. The Path is closed. Dig deep the earth. Protect us from Evil.")_

The ground began to shake, as though an earthquake was beginning. She felt Kennedy grasp her hand even tighter as she repeated in a louder voice; 'Semita est clausus. Semita est propinquus. Cavo profundus orbis terrarum. Servo nos ex Malum.'

The ground shook harder. Cracks began to appear in the pavement, tiny fissures which grew by the second, snaking their way across the street. Willow repeated the spell again and again until the cracks widened, the earth falling away to reveal a chasm, at least ten foot deep and ten foot wide, stretching across the front of their defenses in a huge semi-circle.

'Whoa!' she heard Kennedy breathe out beside her. 'That's one hell of a moat.'

Andrew was standing off to one side, wide-eyed with wonder. As Willow turned to him, he smiled, then frowned. 'What about the water?'

Willow laughed. 'Never satisfied, are you?' She heard the sound of a vehicle approaching and nodded in its direction. 'Here's comes your _water _now.'

Rondell and a small number of his crew pulled up, driving a gas tanker.

'Where the hell did you get that?' Kennedy asked, obviously impressed.

'Girl, this whole town's abandoned,' Rondell replied. 'I'm thinking there's not much we couldn't lay our hands on right now.' He turned to Willow. 'Where you want this dumped, Glenda?'

Rolling her eyes at the reference, she nodded towards the ditch.

* * *

'Do you get the feeling that was a little too easy?' Cordy, ever the optimist, finally voiced her fears as they hurried along another deserted corridor. 

'They probably weren't expecting us,' Angel replied. 'Most of their army has gone to LA. The few that are left are guarding the Senior Partners.'

'Still, Angel,' Giles cut in, slowing is pace down to a halt. 'If these books are the key to stopping the Senior Partners, and they _are _here, surely they'd be better protected?'

Angel and the rest of the group stopped and looked at Giles.

'He's right,' Faith finally said. 'We'd better watch our step in here.'

Nodding in agreement, Angel turned and looked towards the bend in the corridor. 'I'll go first.'

Moving more cautiously, he neared the corner and looked around. 'All clear,' he announced.

But as they moved forward towards their goal, a huge demon, at least 8 foot tall, materialized in front of them. A roar behind them announced the presence of a second demon.

'So, not quite so easy then,' Lorne remarked, fear mingling with the sarcasm in his voice.

'Faith!' Angel called out. The slayer read his mind.

'I got your backs. Lorne and the kid are with me. You guys just get those books!'

At that she, Conner and Lorne launched themselves at the demon that had appeared behind them.

'Do we have a plan?' Giles wanted to know.

It was Cordelia that answered. 'If my visions are right, the books should be at the other side of the door that demon's guarding. Angel and me will distract him. You get inside and grab them.'

Angel cast a sideways glance and her; Cordelia suspected he was more annoyed at her suggesting she fight the demon than for her taking charge.

'No time to argue, Angel,' she told him as she drew her sword. He did the same and they charged forward together.

The first blow Faith struck reverberated up her arm and through her entire body. These demons were tough. It didn't bode well that her opponent hadn't even flinched. Landing a spinning kick to its mid-section, she swung her sword around to attack again. The beast caught the blade in his fist and swung Faith like she was a rag doll. She flew across the corridor and hit a wall with a sickening thud.

Connor leapt on the Creature's back as it advanced towards the dazed slayer. Plunging his axe into its neck, he finally provoked a reaction – a loud, high-pitched scream - as the demon tried to throw Connor off its back.

Trying to stay out of the line of fire, Lorne shot off a bolt from his crossbow. The demon screamed again and paused in his defensive against Connor to take a swipe at the Pylean. Lorne flew across the corridor and landed beside Faith, out cold.

Angel and Cordelia double teamed on their demon, coming at him from two sides. Cordelia used her advantage of being light and quick on her feet to dodge the beast's attacks, but found she was making no headway at all in attacks of her own. The demon's arms and torso seemed to be made of a thick scaly hide, which deflected the blows of her sword quite successfully.

As she danced out of the way of her opponent's razor-sharp claws again, she caught sight of Giles slipping past the fight, and disappearing through the door to the room where she had seen the books in her vision. Her relief doubled her efforts in the fight.

Angel was spending much of his time trying to keep the demon's attention focused on him, rather than on Cordelia, but the creature seemed to have a one track mind where the brunette was concerned. Every attack Angel launched the demon batted away, before again turning towards Cordy.

Deciding to try a low attack, Cordelia rolled and managed to sink her blade into the demon's shin. With a scream of rage, it lashed out, catching her across the shoulder with its long claws.

Angel smelled Cordy's blood and, realizing she'd been injured, vamped out in fury. He hit the demon with a spinning kick from behind and as it staggered, he plunged his sword into its fleshy side.

The demon howled in pain and rage, but it wasn't slowed down one bit. Turning towards the vampire, it started towards him.

Cordy had just staggered to her feet, sore but ready to help Angel, when the vision hit. Loosing her balance, she slumped against the wall as the images flooded her brain.

'_No. _Not _now_!'

* * *

Willow was hurrying back into the hotel to inform Buffy of their progress when her head felt like it was being split in two. 

First one, then dozens of images flooded her mind. Three books, animals on the covers. A hand flipped through the pages, and stopped at a particular passage… Hordes of demons marching towards her… a fierce battle… a dark room, cold and forbidding… a baby, sleeping in a cot… a blast of fire… a demon looming above her…

She could hear screaming, but wasn't sure if it was in her mind or coming from her own mouth. Fear and pain and the smell of death flooded her senses, making bile rise up in her throat.

When the images ended, Willow found herself lying on the floor of the lobby, her head throbbing.

'What in the name of Hecate was that?' she managed to groan before throwing up.

* * *

The demon army had formed into ranks and, organized in this way, their numbers seemed even more daunting than before. Vi and Rona watched in horror as, from the depths of the ruined Wolfram & Hart building, the dragon emerged. 

'Oh god.' Rona's voice came out in a strangled whisper. 'Oh god.'

'This is it,' Vi said, her own terror as pronounced as Rona's. 'Let's go.'

Grabbing Rona's arm, Vi and the other three slayers who had remained behind to stand watch began to run back towards the hotel, as if the legions of hell were right on their tail. In the distance, they heard the roar, as if hell itself had spoken.

'Forward March!'

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


	18. The Calm before

**Author's Note - I have to start by apologising for taking such a ridiculously long time to up-date this story. Originally, around the middle of September, I decided to take a month off from writing this fic, because I was a little burned out, and I had become pretty busy. However, when I tried to go back to it again, I found it very difficult to pick up where I left off. This chapter was really hard to write as a result, and I'm still not sure that I'm happy with it, but i decided to press on anyway. So I hope everyone hasn't totally lost interest by now (I wouldn't blame you if you had...) **

**Secondly, one of the reviews (from Kara - thank you:) ) reminded me that when Angel vamps out in Pylea, he turns into the Angel-beast. Oooops :) All fixed now...**

**Thirdly, my sincerest thanks to everyone who's followed this story, who've stuck with it and who've reviewed. Your kind words and support mean a lot to me. I hope I haven't let you down. Please do continue to read. We're nearing the home stretch, and I will do my best to update more promptly from now on.**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Disclaimer: I have nothing but the new shoes I bought for Christmas and I don't think they'd fit you, Mr Whedon, so please don't sue me. I'm writing this for love, not money...**

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE CALM BEFORE...

* * *

The chamber Giles had entered was dimly lit; a few flickering torches the only source of light. But it was not so dark that he couldn't spot the dark cloaked figure attempting to sneak up on him.

Ducking to one side as his attacker lunged forward; Giles twisted his sword upwards, the clash of steel meeting steel resonating around the room. Shoving him backwards, Giles positioned himself for a more offensive battle strategy. He didn't have time to play around with this guy.

Giles considered the possibility that his opponent might be considered a worthy swordsman in this dimension. But he also knew that his own skills were bloody good. Parrying another attack, Giles swung his leg up and out, kicking the enemy backwards. Without hesitation, he swung his sword around, separating head from shoulders.

Looking rather smug and pleased with himself, Giles turned back towards his quarry, the plinth on which rested the three books. As he moved towards it, he didn't see two more hooded figures creep out of the shadows behind him.

* * *

Faith's eyes snapped open. Sitting up quickly, she shook off the dizziness that permeated the edges of her mind. Her slayer instincts took over and she leapt back onto her feet, grabbed her weapon and moved in for the attack once more. 

Her peripheral vision took in Cordelia, writhing on the ground a few feet away from the demon she and Angel had been fighting. She also glimpsed a new demon, green and snarling. But no Angel.

Where the hell was he?

She was about to move to the front to help when a strangled yell got her attention.

Reduced to fighting one of the 8-foot demons alone, Connor had held his own, attacking what he worked out were the creature's weak points – its neck and the fleshy area on its side. It was now bleeding profusely and weakened, but its rage more than made up for that. With a shriek of pure fury, it managed to wrap its deadly talons around Connor's neck, lifting him into the air and slowly choking the life out of him.

Changing direction, Faith came at the demon low, plunging her sword into its foot. The demon shrieked again and turned its attention to the slayer, dropping Connor in the process. Gasping for breath, he rolled to one side and then proceeded to look for a weapon. Grasping his fallen axe, he got to his feet and ran at the demon, plunging his axe into its lower stomach at the same time that Faith ran her sword through its neck. One last wail and the demon fell.

As the last remnants of the vision left her, Cordelia fought off the wave of nausea that churned in her stomach. It had been a long time since the visions had such a horrific effect on her. The headaches were a thing of the past, but the feelings, the smells, the sheer horror contained within the visions she now got were worse than ever. And what made them all the more distressing for her were that they no longer seemed to have structure or meaning. They simply presented the carnage that awaited them, but gave her no clue to how she could prevent the events or resolve them.

As her mind beginning to clear, she suddenly remembered the battle she had been in the middle of. Opening her eyes, she saw that Angel was still fighting off the 8 foot demon.

But it wasn't Angel. Her insides turned cold as she realized what had happened. He'd vamped out and become the thing he dreaded – the beast within.

The Angel-beast leapt over her his foe, snarling and snapping like a wild thing. The demon lashed out again with its claws, shredding the coat Angel had been wearing, but missing his flesh. In reply, the Beast grabbed the demon's wrist, snapping it upwards. While the creature still wailed, the Beast leapt again, grabbing the demon's head and twisting hard. With a loud snap, the creature's neck broke and it fell unmoving to the ground.

Panting with exertion but still snarling, the Angel-beast then turned its attention towards Cordy.

* * *

Willow gagged as the smell of her own vomit filled her nostrils. Rolling away from the mess, she groaned as the sudden movement caused the throbbing in her head to intensify. Now she knew what Cordelia had gone through for years and she didn't envy her one bit. 

Altered by her earlier yells, Buffy and Spike ran into the lobby at the same time as Xander and Dawn entered from the basement.

"Willow!" Buffy

"God, Will, are you okay?" Xander exclaimed, rushing to her side and pulling her into a sitting position.

Another wave of nausea hit her and her head throbbed again. "Ow! Ow! Okay, not like this vision thing. Now I know how Cordy used to feel."

"You had a vision?" Buffy asked, utterly confused.

Her sister felt the same way. "How? Of what? When did you start having visions? How?"

That did nothing to help ease her aching head. "Less of the 20 questions, Dawnie. Woman with a splitting headache here."

Spike was the only one of the group who didn't look totally lost. "Was it from the Powers, Red?"

She started to nod, and then thought better of moving her head in any way. "I think so. It felt like I was… sharing Cordy's vision, if that makes any sense."

It was only then that Xander and Dawn noticed the new addition to their numbers. Dawn let out an unearthly shriek that made Willow clutch at her head again, and ran to hug him. Xander simply narrowed his remaining eye at the new arrival.

"Doesn't _anyone_ stay dead anymore?"

Buffy arched an eyebrow, urging her over-protective friend to behave. "Look at who he's asking," she chuckled. Turning serious, she turned to the blonde vampire at her side. "You don't sound surprised that Willow had a vision, Spike. What do you know?"

He shrugged. "Red used her own blood to bring Cordelia back from the dead. That formed some kind of cosmic connection between the two of them. In theory, they should share some of the same abilities now, if they can learn to master them in time."

Xander frowned. "How did the dumb-ass end up with all the answers?"

Another shrug. "You'd be amazed what you pick up sitting around on a ruddy cloud all day watching the coming and goings down here." He looked down at Willow, who was still getting her breath back. "You'd better take a couple of painkillers and gather your thoughts. Trouble's on its way," he told her ominously.

* * *

"Angel," her voice pleaded as the green, scaly demon came closer, fangs bared, snarling. "Angel, it's me. _Cordelia_." 

No response. Snapping, he came closer still, backing her and the others into a corner. She sensed Faith and Connor arm themselves with stakes, preparing to move in front of her and fight. She couldn't let that happen.

"No!" she said, taking a step forward to ensure they were still behind her. "Stay back. _It's Angel_."

Faith's voice was worried. "Cordy…"

"No. Don't attack him," the Seer insisted. Refocusing her attention on Angel, she took a slow, tentative step towards him. "Angel." She kept her voice low. Soothing. "Angel, you don't want to attack us. This isn't you. You know it isn't."

The Angel-beast snarled again, swiping a claw at her but not connecting. Instinctively, Cordy jumped back, and took a moment to calm down before trying again.

"It's okay. It's _okay_. You don't want to stay like this. Come back to me, Angel." She took another step forward, slowly reaching her hand towards him, which prompted both Faith and Connor to hiss her name in warning.

"Angel. This isn't you. Come back to me." He snarled again in response, but less fiercely than before. "Come back to me Angel." Gently, she touched his face. "I love you."

The beast's eyes connected with hers. And as she looked into them, she saw them become softer. More human. And he stopped growling.

"Angel," she said softly again.

The green and scales disappeared and before her stood the man she loved.

"Cordy," he whispered, hanging his head in shame. "I'm sorry."

Without saying a word, she took another step forward and slid her arms around him, holding him tight.

Just then, the door next to them burst open and a slightly worse-for-wear Giles limped out.

"You okay, G?" Faith asked the Watcher, who was bleeding slightly from a wound on his shoulder and from the looks of things, was fairly battered and bruised.

Giles nodded triumphantly, grinning at the three leather-bound volumes in his arms. "I'm more that a match for three bloody monks," he said proudly. "I've got the…"

Before he could say anything else, he was propelled forward as one of his earlier opponents launched himself at the Englishman. Knocked off his balance and unable to stop himself due to the books in his arms, he fell sprawling to the ground.

As the monk raised his sword above his head to attack again, he was stopped short with startled and painful expression on his face. Looking down, he saw a dagger sticking out of his chest, which Connor had thrown. His last breath huffed out like a sigh of disappointment as he crumpled to the ground, dead.

Faith was just helping Giles back onto his feet when behind them, a groan announced that Lorne was coming around from his unconscious state.

Sitting up and rubbing the back of his head he wondered, "What did I miss?"

* * *

Three aspirins in her system and nursing a cup of chamomile tea, Willow was feeling much better than she had been a short time earlier. The sun had now set, and all around her she watched as slayers, demons and street-fighters gathered their weapons together and prepared for battle. 

On the outside, she presented a calm exterior, but inside she was in turmoil.

Her first worry was that her earlier vision had weakened her so close to the impending battle. But her deeper worry was fed from Spike's words. It was possible, due to the spell she had cast a few days previous, that she now shared some of Cordelia's powers. Undoubtedly, those powers would come in very handy when fighting this war. She had watched Cordy decimate large numbers of opponents in a matter of seconds, simply by emitting a beam of light. But she had also watched the same woman crumple and go into some kind of mystical coma, simply because she had not mastered her new and ever growing powers.

What if the same thing happened to Willow, right in the middle of the battle? What use would she be to Buffy and the others if she was unconscious? It didn't bear thinking about, but Willow couldn't help but dwell on it - her worry compounded by the fact that time had pretty much ran out, and she no longer had the luxury of learning to control her new power boost.

On the other side of the lobby, Buffy was having a similar crisis.

"I can't."

"I hate to break it to you, love, but you have to."

Nervously, she shook her head.

"I seem to remember you giving more than your fair share of pep talks and speechifying two years ago pet."

She chewed on her lower lip and that was the final straw for Spike. It was time for tough love.

"You used to be a bloody cheerleader, Slayer," he told her. "And if ever there was a time for cheerleading, it's bloody well now. So stop bloody standing there, biting on your delightfully pouty lower lip and just bloody well go talk to your troops!"

Stunned, she looked at him, not sure whether to laugh, cry or punch his lights out. She compromised by raising an eyebrow at him.

He sighed, misunderstanding her expression. "_Please._"

That did it. Unable to contain herself anymore, she started to laugh. Which just pissed him off even more.

"I don't see what's so bloody funny!" he pouted.

Still smirking, she pecked him on the lips. "Thank you," she told him sincerely. "I think I needed that."

Looking towards her assembled army, she took a deep breath and settled her resolve. And oddly, she felt better. She felt like she could do this. More importantly, she felt like she was worthy of doing this, which had been a feeling she'd been missing for a long time.

Taking Spike's hand and squeezing it, she turned to face the troops. "It's Showtime."

"Everyone!" she said loudly. Those closest fell silent and the silence spread through the room until everyone had their attention focused on the tiny blonde woman who held so much power within her small frame.

"For some of you this will be your first battle. And I'm not going to lie to you – for some of you, this will be your last. I'm not going to pretend this will be easy, because it won't be. We're going to face hell itself tonight. And it's going to do everything in its power to crush us like bugs. And we _are not_ going to let them.

"Last time I stood in this position, I was speaking to a group of potential Slayers – some of them are standing in front of me now. And I told them that they were there because they were chosen. But I don't believe that anymore. We're not here because we were chosen. We're here because we _made a_ _choice_. A choice not to let evil win. A choice to fight the darkness no matter what the personal cost. A choice to do what's right. Everyone in this room has made that choice. That commitment. And _that_ is why we're going to win."

Silence reverberated around the room, as everyone assembled absorbed her words. And for a moment, Buffy reveled in perfect stillness, sensing a calm settle over them.

That calm was broken as the front door swung open as Vi and Rona stumbled in.

"They're coming!"

* * *

The van bumped over the rocky terrain as they raced against the daylight which was fast disappearing over the horizon. 

The violent movement of the vehicle did nothing to aid Giles' concentration. The three volumes he was attempting to translate were sizable, a problem that was compounded by the fact that they were written in Trionic, which meant that he had to keep switching between the books on a regular basis.

The initial third of the books seemed to be taken up with mythology and creation stories which Giles doubted would be useful on this occasion, however interesting they might appear. The next section of the books dealt with the coming of the Pylean 'messiah', which Cordelia had already explained (with great relish) was about her. Moving towards the final sections of the books, he found passages that seemed much more relevant to their current situation.

"Hmm," he muttered to himself as he read.

"Hmm?" Cordelia leaned over his shoulder to look. "Have you found something?"

The Watcher didn't say anything at first, but simply re-read the passage he had just covered, to ensure he had translated correctly. "Perhaps," he finally replied without looking up. "This section deals with a "Triumvirate of Power, which holds sway over the fate of the worlds. It speaks of a chamber and three separate choices which will either save or destroy all the dimensions."

"Sounds cheery," Connor wryly remarked. "Anything else?"

"_And on the fateful day, they will come and face fear itself,_" Giles read, pausing briefly to switch books again. "It's all very vague – references to 'essence', the heart, the soul and "that which was not meant to be". And then there are a series of letters – consonants, similar to those which brought us to Pylea…"

"Let me see," Cordy said, reaching across to take the book from Giles. As soon as her fingertips made contact with the ancient paper, the vision assaulted her. This time it held no violence, no fear. An 'infomercial from the PTB' she thought to herself as it ended.

Taking his eyes off the dirt path before him as he drove, Angel looked back to check that she was okay. "Cordy?"

"The three of us have to get inside the fortress and say the incantation," she replied. "It will take us to the Senior Partners."

* * *

The ground shook before them. The Slayers and their allies had moved quickly, each into the positions which had already been assigned to them. Now they stood, clutching their weapons, eyes fixed upon the horizon. 

They could hear them coming. Even from several blocks away, still out of their line of vision, the sheer number of them shook the earth.

Behind the front line, Xander and Dawn stood side by side, a hand-held rocket launcher balanced on his shoulder, a rocket, ready for re-loading, in her arms. As he looked down at her, she gave him a nervous smile.

"Flame unit!" he said, his voice raised above the steadily building rumble.

"Ready!"

"Archers!"

"Ready!"

"Once more into the breach," he muttered in a tone that only Dawn could hear.

"That the best you can do?" she smirked.

He winked with his good eye. "Tell you what. When we get through this, I'll brush up on my pop-culture quips, just for you."

Up front, at the head of the column, Buffy and Willow were coping with their nerves in a similar way.

"You ready for this?" the petite blonde asked.

The witch shook her head. "Not even remotely. You?"

"Nope. Figured out Cordelia's 'light-of-doom' trick yet?"

Willow cocked an eyebrow at her best friend. "Do I look like a woman who knows how to decimate an entire army with her internal flashlight?" she asked indignantly.

Up ahead, they heard a roar.

"Well, you might want to figure it out pretty soon, Red," Spike remarked as he arrived at the other side of Buffy. "Because here they come."

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


	19. The Battle Begins

**Author's Notes:** _Much love to everyone who read and reviewed. I'm so happy that there are at least some people still with the story, even though I've been terrible about updating regularly. I was determined to get a new chapter up within a month, which I accomplished (yay me!) and I plan on doing at least that well, if not better, right up until the story is done._

_The battle has (finally) begun..._

**Disclaimer:** _Well, Christmas has come and gone, and Santa didn't leave the characters under the tree for me, so I guess I still don't own them. I'm just playing with them for a little while._

* * *

The sun had fully set as they parked the van in the cover of the forest and got out. Lurking in the shadows, Lorne spotted around a dozen figures.

'Landok?' he whispered. "Is that you?"

Landok emerged from the shadows, flanked by several of his kinsmen. "You are late," he stated impassively.

"Ran into a little demon trouble," Lorne remarked. "How are we doing for numbers?"

Landok looked grim. "I could not get more than a dozen warriors from my village," he replied. "The rest have been killed or have been taken prisoner. But these are strong warriors and will bravely fight our common enemy."

"Good," Angel said. "We need to do this and we need to do it quickly. Its past sunset, which means the battle in LA has probably already started. Faith?"

Faith was at his side in an instant. "You know what to do, right?" he asked the Slayer.

She nodded, but looked doubtful "You sure about this plan of yours, Angel?"

He sighed and looked at Cordelia. "Wasn't my plan," he said regretfully.

"We don't have a choice, Angel," the Seer told him. "Time has run out. And besides, only you, me and Connor will be able to get to the Partners."

"Don't worry, Angel," Faith told him, her old cockiness firmly in place. "I _have_ done this once or twice. Besides, with luck we'll only be outnumbered by two or three to one."

Lorne looked greener than usual. "Don't quote me the odds before a battle, princess."

Having distributed additional weapons among the slayers, Giles now approached them, carrying the books. Handing one each to Angel, Connor and Cordelia, the Englishman looked grave.

"This could quite possibly be the most insane plan any of us have ever devised," he remarked.

"I don't know. Walking into the hell mouth to face ten thousand of those Uber-vamps was pretty wacky," Faith corrected him.

Ignoring her, Giles looked to Angel and Cordelia. "We may have no way of getting you out of there again. If the books are left behind on this side, as they were before…"

"Giles, we know," Cordy cut him off, not needing to hear anymore. She knew how risky the plan was. "Don't worry about us. Just… win this battle and then go home."

Lorne's eyes widened at this. "All this impending doom must have made me go temporarily deaf. You _did not_ just say what I thought you said."

She nodded. "I don't know how we're getting back, but I need you to not worry about it. You take care of business here, then head back to LA. They're going to need your help."

"What about the three of you?" Giles asked.

She looked at Angel and Connor. They were champions. They were willing to fight this to the death. But neither of them were happy about her doing the same. She smiled at them both, trying to reassure them. "We'll be just fine."

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a scrap of paper and held it out to Giles. "Here. It's the incantation to get back home."

He looked for a moment as if he might say something, but then reconsidered. Instead, he gave her a small smile and squeezed her shoulder.

"Good luck," Angel said to Faith.

She nodded, finding it unusually difficult to stay stoic. "You too."

Ready to get going before it turned into a tearful farewell, Cordelia was dismayed to suddenly find herself at the receiving end of a bear hug from Lorne.

"You come back to us, Princess," he told her fiercely. "Just make sure you come back."

Extracting herself from his arms, she smiled and touched his face, before turning to Faith. "Look after him for me," she told the Slayer, who nodded.

"Ready?" Connor asked.

She looked at Angel, who did his best to hide his reservations from her, which she appreciated.

"Let's go."

* * *

The ground rumbled as the huge army of demons took position in front of the human defenses. Too many to count, huge and menacing, easily the largest army most of them had ever faced. And now they were so close that they could smell the stench of death from them.

Buffy remained outwardly calm as she surveyed the enemy ranks, inwardly in awe at the sheer number of demons before her. Even in the dull light provided by the not quite full moon, she could make out the different species, the different shapes and sizes and even colors of the army before her. Fighting off the urge to make a quip about brotherhood among the demon races, she half-glanced in Willow's direction.

"You okay?"

She could hear the false bravado in her friend's voice. "Sure. Piece of cake," Willow told her. She noticed something about the forward ranks. "Yay. There are lots of vamps."

Buffy was incredulous. "And that's a _good _thing?"

Willow nodded. "Actually, it really is. Spike?" she said, turning to the platinum blonde vampire. "You might want to take cover during the first part of the battle."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And why might I want to do that?"

She smiled. "It's gonna get a little sunny."

At that moment, a roar went up from the demon ranks and they began to move forward.

"Xander!" Willow called him, raising her voice above the din.

Shouldering the rocket launcher, Xander took aim a little above the heads of the demons. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled before pressing the trigger.

He felt his whole body kick back at the force of the weapon, as the rocket shot towards the demons. Exploding above their heads, the entire sky was suddenly filled with daylight.

"Bloody hell!" Spike yelled, throwing his coat up over his head before he could burst into flames.

In front of them, demons were yelling and shielding their eyes from the glare of the magical sunlight. Vampires were immolating and turning to dust in their hundreds.

As the last vestiges of sunlight began to fade, Willow called out once more. "Xander! Again."

Dawn snapped the back of the launcher shut, having reloaded for Xander. Taking aim once more, he fired.

Sunlight filled the sky once more as the second rocket exploded. Any vampires which had escaped the initial deadly rays were now burning, on their way to dustville. The demon army was in chaos, at least five hundred members of their ranks now big piles of dust.

But as the sunlight faded once more, the demons began to refocus. Filled with fury, the one that appeared to be their general turned its attention back towards the human army. With a roar that sounded more like a scream, he ordered them to march forwards again.

Resting the launcher at his side for a moment, Xander looked towards the roof top. "Archers!" he yelled.

Twenty flaming arrows peaked over the side of the roof. "Steady!" he ordered.

The front ranks of demons were no more than thirty feet away from Buffy and Willow went they suddenly sank out of sight. Unable to stop their momentum in time, more and more demons fell after them, plunging into the deep moat which surrounded the human defenses.

"What the…?" Willow heard Buffy exclaim.

Willow looked abashed. "Oops. Meant to tell you about that, but with Spike turning up and the vision and everything…"

Just then, from behind them, Xander yelled. "Fire!"

All the flaming arrows hit their mark, setting the gasoline in the moat on fire, immolating all of the demons that had fallen into the pit. Those that had managed to stop themselves in time were driven back by the intensity of the flames.

"Nice," Buffy complimented the witch.

"Thanks," she replied. "But it was Andrew's idea."

"Really?" Buffy was incredulous. "Wow. Remind me to buy him a cookie when this is all over."

Excited by their initial successes, a cheer let up from within the slayer ranks. But the cheering was quickly drowned out by another sound. A high-pitched screeching that announced the arrival of the dragon.

* * *

Almost the second Faith and her army broke cover and made their way towards the fortress, the huge wooden doors swung open. From inside, marched an army of demons, each at least the size and build of Landok; heavily armed and in full armor.

"It's always somewhat disconcerting when the enemy is expecting our attack and fully ready to meet it," Giles remarked.

The demons marched in ranks, a well organized machine. Before the doors closed again, Faith guessed at least fifty of them had spilled onto the battlefield.

"Two to one. Not so bad," she said under her breath.

"I know these warriors," Landok told her. "Their only pleasure is in drawing the blood of their enemies on the battlefield."

Faith shrugged nonchalantly. "We'll just have to make sure they don't get their ya-yas today." Turning to face the slayers, she assumed her role as general effortlessly. "Just like in training. They're bigger, heavier than you. Use that to your advantage. Keep them off-balance. Kill them quick. Stay alive."

"That is your entire battle strategy?" Landok was incredulous.

She smirked at him. "Let's do this thing!"

* * *

Angel, Connor and Cordelia had made their way towards the fortress using the shadows of the forest as cover. As they drew level with it, they watched as at least fifty demon warriors marched towards Faith and her small force.

It felt wrong to each one of them not to be helping in the fight. But time was running out and they had to accomplish their own mission before the battle was lost in LA.

As the doors to the fortress closed, they noticed only two guards take up position in front of the doorway.

"Should we go around, look for another entrance?" Connor asked, keeping his voice low.

Angel shook his head. "No time. Besides, we can fight our way past two guards."

Surveying the scene, Cordy felt a sense of unease settle over her. "Just two guards? Is it just me, or does this have the words "trap" all over it in big, flashing neon lights?"

"It's not just you," Angel told her. "But we don't have a choice, right?"

Cordy looked into his brown eyes, sighed and shook her head.

"Then let's move. Connor?" he said as he tucked his book under one arm and drew his sword with the other. Connor drew his own weapon and readied himself. "Cordy, stay here."

Nodding to his son, they both took off at high speed towards the guards.

"Yeah. Picture that," she said under her breath, drawing her katana and running after them.

* * *

The dragon was huge up close. Swooping over the ranks of the slayers, it scattered many of the girls like toy soldiers with his huge, leathery wings. Keeping her eyes trained on the beast, Buffy suddenly realized that several demons sat atop the creature's back. Weapons drawn, they hacked through several ranks of the slayers before Xander realized what was happening.

"Archers!" he yelled again.

Taking aim, they fired towards the dragon. Two of the demons were hit and killed outright. Another ducked to avoid the volley of arrows and fell off, only to be set upon by members of Rondell's crew. Only one remained as the dragon reared up once more into the sky.

The dragon was priority number one as far as Buffy was concerned. It could cause far too much damage with very little effort. But as it came around for another attack, another problem distracted her. Though the moat was still burning, the demons were figuring out that they could jump across and now they were coming in huge numbers, leaping across the fiery pit towards the slayers.

"They're coming across!" Buffy yelled. "Everyone! Hand to hand."

* * *

The fight was brief and bloody. Connor traded blows with his opponent for a few seconds, before getting the upper hand and lodging his axe in the demon's chest.

Seeing his comrade fall, and sensing he was in a loosing battle, the second guard decided to cut his losses. Ducking round Angel, he ran for it, straight into Cordelia's path. Blocking a blow from the guard's sword with her own, she swung the book she carried up and into his face, spinning him around and straight onto Angel's sword.

"I told you to stay back there," he told her, as if she had not just helped.

"Yeah, like I ever listen," she quipped back. "Now quit being grouchy and lets get inside."

Taking one last look over his shoulder to ensure that Faith's forces were holding their own, Angel pushed open the door and led the way inside.

Letting their eyes adjust to the gloom, they saw they were in a large entrance hall, lit only by a few torches high up on the walls. There was only one door, other than the one they had just come through, at the far end of the room.

Sensing their destination lay beyond that door, Cordelia went towards it. "This way," she said, speaking in barely more than a whisper. When she reached the door, she hesitated.

"You okay?" Angel asked, resting his fingertips on her shoulder. Suddenly, she had the most overwhelming need to cry. It wasn't a vision – more like intuition – but she felt death in their future.

Turning to him, trying to remain calm and brave, she took in the contours of his face, the look in his eyes. "I love you," she whispered.

His eyes softened, before confusion and then realization passed into them, all in the briefest of moments. "Don't you dare say goodbye, Cordy," he told her, drawing her closer to him. "We're going to get through this."

Not really believing him, but nodding anyway, she let him move past her and open the door. The inner room was exactly as she had pictured it in her vision. Ornate carvings covered the walls, depicting what appeared to be various demons and battles. Above what appeared to be an altar were three statues – as ominous as they were enormous. A wolf. A ram. And a hart.

"Guess we're in the right place," Connor remarked, looking from the huge carved animals to his own book, which was adorned with the image of a wolf.

Shutting the door behind them, the three champions moved towards the centre of the room.

"Okay, according to my vision, we have to do this in order," Cordelia instructed them. "First the book with the wolf, then the ram and finally the hart," she said, looking at her own book.

Each of them opened their books and then Connor began. "Mfsthwlf. Mthhntrsmtfrthfnlbttl. Dthrglry. Vctrrtrnlsffrng."

The room rumbled. As Connor finished, Angel began reading. "Mfsthrm. Smblfbthvlndgd. Lssndslvtion. nglvrssdvl. Slvtnrtrnlsffrng."

The room trembled again, more violently this time, as Cordelia began the final incantation. "Mfsthhrt. Thsrsksthwsdmfthfrst. Thwsdmwlldstryhr. Slvtnsnhrhnds. Lvrtrnlsffrng."

The entire room shook as though in the midst of a violent earthquake. Before them, just in front of the altar, a swirling whirlpool appeared.

"This is it!" Cordelia said above the din. Taking one last look at the men at her side, she followed Angel as he led the way towards their destiny.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	20. War Zone

**Authors Note: I'm hoping from now on that updates will come a lot more frequently. For one thing, I've now finished the CSI fic I was writing, so I can now concentrate fully on getting this story completed. And for another, I've decided to write shorter chapters from now on - previous chapters were running into 3000 words, which obviously take a lot longer. **

**This chapter is "battle in LA" heavy, with not too much in Pylea. The balance will go the other way in the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: My birthday was last week and no one gave me the rights to Angel or any of the characters for that matter. So, I'm still borrowing them. Joss Whedon will hopefully get them back without too much damage, though given what I'm putting them through, that isn't guaranteed. No infringement intended.**

**CHAPTER 20 - WAR ZONE.**

* * *

Cordy closed her eyes as she entered the portal. When she opened them again, she found that she was in the same room as before. Only now she was completely alone.

"Angel!" she called out. "Connor!"

There was no reply, save for the echo of her own voice. She felt a coldness she hadn't noticed before, chilling her to the bone. She had never felt so alone in her entire life. It was exactly like it had been in her vision.

She still carried her sword, but realized that she no longer had the book. It had been left at the other side of the portal, just as Giles had suspected. She was trapped there, no way back, and completely alone.

She heard a sound coming from the altar, and suddenly being alone didn't seem to be the problem anymore.

* * *

Sword clashed with sword, claws with flesh, as the two armies met head on. Buffy had two on her at once and more and more demons spilled over the fiery moat to attack. Taking out her opponents as swiftly as she could, she turned to help Willow with a group she was fending off. As she did so, she spotted several demons she recognized only too well come over the flames and head straight for Kennedy.

"Kennedy!" she yelled. "Sisterhood of Jhe, right behind you!"

Decapitating her foe, Kennedy spun around to meet the newcomers, flanked by two other slayers.

Reaching Willow's position, Buffy ran her sword through one demon, winding another with a roundhouse kick. This gave the witch ample breathing space to conjure a huge fire ball and fling it at her attackers.

"How's the glowy thing coming, Red?" Spike asked as he hacked a Hell Beast in two before turning his attention to a Fyarl demon.

Willow fended off another demon with magic, before glaring at Spike. "I don't exactly work well under pressure!"

Finishing off the Fyarl, he briefly surveyed the carnage that lay all around them. "Well, by all means. Take your bloody time then," he told her sarcastically, before moving on to the next fight.

As Buffy finished off yet another demon, she heard an unearthly howling. Two dozen Hell Beasts leapt over the flames, lolloping across the battlefield, ripping chunks out of anyone getting in their way.

Momentarily distracted, she suddenly found herself pinned between the arms of a huge demon. Lifted up into the air, she could only watch as two of the Hell Beasts jumped on one of her slayers from behind, ripping her in half before she could mount a defense.

Blinking back tears of rage, Buffy intensified her struggle with her new attacker. The creature was incredible strong, its arms crushing her with apparently very little effort. Dropping her head forward, she snapped it back and connected with its face. The demon shrieked, but its grip never loosened.

Buffy could feel her ribs bending under the pressure. It was only a matter of moments before they snapped - slayer-strength or not. Just as her breathing started to become labored, the demon let out another shriek and she felt its arms loosen around her. Taking advantage, she wriggled out of its grasp and dropped to the ground.

Her adversary, she could see now, had been a Lagos demon. However, he now had a large sword stuck through his head, accounting for her sudden release. Smirking, Spike pulled his sword out of the demon's skull and wiped it on his coat, as the creature finally succumbed to death and fell to the ground.

She was about to thank him when another sound rose above the din of the battle. The dragon was back. Swooping low over the buildings, it swatter at the slayers like flies, sending two tumbling from the roof-top to their deaths.

Vi and Rona were positioned on the roof-top with the second rocket launcher. Seeing their opportunity, Vi helped Rona steady the heavy weapon on her shoulder, taking aim as the dragon rose into the air again.

The rocket headed straight for the gigantic creature. But at the last moment, the dragon swerved, causing the rocket to miss it by mere inches.

The girls frantically tried to reload their weapon as the dragon swung round for another attack.

* * *

Connor looked around the deserted chamber. He was certain this was the exact same one he had just left – certainly the somewhat disturbing décor was the same. However, he was now alone.

"Dad!" he called out, looking around the room. "Cordy?"

No reply. Perhaps they were in another room, he thought. Bent on going back out to the entrance hall and retracing his steps, he was stunned to find that the room wasn't entirely identical to the one he had just been in. This one didn't have a door.

A sound coming from the altar alerted him to the fact that he wasn't entirely alone. Turning slowly around, he saw the last person he expected.

"Hello Stephen."

* * *

The dragon swooped before they could take aim. Effortlessly, it plucked Vi up into the air. Rona dropped the rocket launcher and snatched out with both hands to grab her, but it was too late. The dragon flew higher into the air and, positioned above the fray below, dropped its passenger.

From the ground, all this looked like it was happening in slow motion to Buffy. She thought she cried out, but she couldn't hear her own voice. Finally getting her legs to work, she launched herself forward, leap-frogging over several demons to get underneath Vi's path of decent, reaching out her arms to catch her.

Vi hit her hard, knocking the wind out of her and bringing them both crashing to the ground. The younger girl groaned, still alive. Buffy could feel damp warmth spread across her chest and she heaved herself out from underneath to check the damage. She estimated there were at least three or four deep wounds, from what she could tell under all the blood, from where the dragon's claws had imbedded in Vi's flesh.

Buffy lost no more time, picking up the wounded slayer and carrying her behind the front line.

"Dawn!" she yelled about the incessant din. "Dawn!"

"Buffy!" she heard her sister return her call and made her way towards her, depositing the now unconscious girl at hers and Xander's feet.

"Get her back to the hotel. We need to get the bleeding controlled," she ordered simply, before moving back into the battle once more.

It was then that she spotted two more broken slayers crashing to the ground. This time there was no one to catch them.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	21. Destruction

**Authors Note: See, as promised, a quicker update. I've written parts of several chapters now, so the updates should be coming thick and fast now. I'll also be publishing sneak peaks of upcoming chapters on my livejournal (see my profile for the link) for those of you who enjoy spoilers.**

**Flashbacks and Connor!Angst approaching... Lots more Angel in the next chapter, I promise.**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: DESTRUCTION**

* * *

"Holtz?" Conner was startled. He had expected a huge, ferocious demon, a senior partner, not…

"Hello Son," the former vampire hunter said in his husky, oh-so-English tone. "How are you?"

Connor was incredulous. "How am I?" He blinked. "What's going on? Why are you here?"

The old man shook his head, disappointed. "You are so full of questions, Stephen. You didn't use to be."

"I've changed," he answered simply.

"In some ways, yes you have," Holtz replied. "But not for the better. You disappoint me, Stephen."

"Stop calling me that. My name is Connor."

The older man's lip curled. "Ah yes. The name given to you by your demon of a father. I see you have embraced that side of your nature fully and forgotten all I taught you."

"I haven't forgotten it," Connor replied. "It just isn't who I am."

"I had hoped that would not be the case. I had hoped that the accident of your birth could be overcome, that you would prove yourself a warrior against evil instead of for it."

Connor was beginning to feel agitated. He now knew that what Holtz said was nothing but lies, but a part of him couldn't help but feel guilty for disappointing him. "I _am_ fighting evil."

"Are you?" This seemed to amuse Holtz. "Bedding the woman who had begun to raise you, almost as her own child, was fighting evil?" He sneered. "Destroying the only chance this world had of peace was fighting evil?" His voice remained calm and soft, even though his words dripped with venom.

"I…" Connor had no defense, nothing to say to those accusations. They were true. They haunted him still. He couldn't excuse what he had done with Cordelia, but Jasmine perhaps was another matter.

"She was a demon."

"As are your parents. As are you," was the reply. "And the fact that Angelus is a demon, that he killed many hundreds of innocent people, including my family, has done nothing to spur you into removing him from this earth. And yet, you could kill Jasmine? A demon, yes, but one that had brought peace and harmony to this Godforsaken earth."

"She was killing people…" his resolve was wavering. "She… she took away everyone's freedom of choice."

"But not yours, eh Stephen?" The old man moved closer, his voice becoming softer and yet more menacing. "You still had a choice. You chose to plunge the earth back in to darkness. Why do you think that was?"

"I…"

"Because you are the seed of darkness? Born only to cause death and pain and to destroy lives?" Holtz was close enough now to whisper in his ear. "That's the real reason you are known as 'The Destroyer'."

Rage built up inside him, rising like bile in his throat. Involuntarily, Connor's hands balled into fists and his side.

Holtz knew what was brewing inside him. "And now you would raise your hand to your own father?"

"You are _not_ my father," the boy spat from between clenched teeth.

Holtz shook his head. "No. And I thank God for that fact every day. You are an abomination. You should never have been born."

* * *

Xander shoved the rocket launcher into the hands of the nearest Slayer and picked up the bleeding girl at his feet. Grabbing her sword, Dawn ran ahead of him, clearing a path through the battle.

When they got in sight of the hotel doors, they spotted a dozen or so demons trying to break through the magical barrier Willow had erected at the front door.

"Around the back?" Xander asked, hefting the dead weight of the slayer in his arms into a slightly more manageable position.

"No time," Dawn replied, reaching into her satchel.

Withdrawing a grenade, she smiled wickedly at Xander. "Knew these would come in handy."

Pulling the pin, she lobbed it at the demons. One loud explosion later and their path was clear.

"Let's go," she said, leading him inside.

* * *

The dragon swooped, low enough for Buffy to count each and every scale on its hideous head. She ducked just in time to escape its deadly talons and it swooped upwards again, towards the slayers positioned on the roof-top across the street. Buffy turned just in time to see another of the girls picked up in the monster's clutches.

'No!'

Somewhere in the back of her mind, it registered that the girl's name was Katie. Short for Katriana. She was French-American and had been raised in Paris. She had been with them since they arrived in Europe and, because she was Dawn's age and befriended her sister, Buffy had actually taken the time to get to know her.

Inane thoughts, unimportant now as she watched the girl flop about like a rag doll for a moment before being dropped, almost like an afterthought, into the midst of the battle below. Buffy felt the tears burning in her eyes. Too many slayers had fallen this day. Too many young lives snuffed out.

As the dragon made its return trip towards her, Buffy steadied herself with her scythe, ready to meet the beast head-on. Before it could reach her, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Without turning, she knew who's it was.

'This one's mine, Goldilocks,' he told her, that old swagger of his prominent in his voice. 'Scaly bitch killed me. Only fair I repay the compliment.'

Before she could answer, Spike stepped forward, sideswiped the dragon as it made a pass, and plunged his axe into the scaly neck. Using his weapon like a grappling hook, he swung himself with graceful agility onto the beast's back.

'Spike!'

Vamping out, Spike smiled with gleeful ferocity. 'Just you and me now, you over-grown iguana.'

* * *

Angel looked around the chamber he now found himself in. It was identical to the one he had just left. With one noticeable difference.

"Cordy!" he called out. "Connor!"

He looked down at the sword still clenched in his fist. _Good, he was still armed, _he thought._ He hated it when he lost his weapon every time he went through a portal._

He sniffed the air to try and locate the others, but to no effect. It was as though they had completely disappeared.

As he made his way towards the back of the chamber, looking for a way out, he sensed someone watching him from behind. Slowly, he turned around.

"Handsome man. Come to save me?"

* * *

Connor felt as though someone was strangling him. The grief, the pain and the anger was a bitter pill in his throat. All of the old feelings, the feelings of loss and bitterness began to return, washing away the sense of peace he had managed to find in the past year.

"You were born to bring about a new world," he barely heard Holtz tell him. "Instead, you only brought about its utter destruction."

It was becoming all too vivid for him. His memories of that time, when he was still so angry and confused, raging against his father and his mission. Connor had always felt like an outsider, had desperately sought something, anything that would make him feel like he belonged. He had thought he'd found it in Jasmine. But that too was nothing but a lie.

_He had gone to Cordelia as she lay, comatose in a cathedral. It should have been the most peaceful place in the world, but to Connor, the world was falling in around him._

"_I wanted to see you again. I had to, to know that you're still here... with me. I'm sorry I haven't…" He paused as he sat down beside her on the altar. "It's started, Cordy. The new beginning. Just wish you'd wake up and see it. Just what you wanted."_

_Doubts had begun to cloud his mind. Had all this been what Cordy had wanted? Or were Angel and the others right? Had it all just been a trick?_

"_I mean..." He stood up and began to pace around as his doubts overwhelmed him. "It is what you wanted, right? Why you came to me? You know...what this was all about? Protecting our baby - Jasmine - so she can...be, and make this world the... the kind of place you wanted." _

_No, he told himself. Angel and the others were wrong. They had to be. This _was _what she had wanted…_

"_And it is better. Not harsh and cruel - the way that Angel likes it so he has a reason to fight." _

_The anger was rising again in him. Angel was what made his world harsh and cruel. He was what destroyed Connor's every chance at happiness._

"_'Cause you know that's what he's about, him and the others. Finding reasons to fight. Like that's what gives their lives any meaning. The only damn thing!" _

_He punched through a lectern, smashing it to bits._

"_I'm not like them. I just..." He turned back to Cordelia, tired and defeated. "I want to stop. Stop fighting. I just want to rest. God, I want to rest. But I can't." _

_Tears sprang up in his eyes. He had wanted so badly to stop fighting, to just let Jasmine's love fill him and make him whole. But…_

"_It's not working, Cordy. I tried. I tried to believe. I wanted it. Went along with the... the flow. Jasmine, she's...she's bringing peace to everyone, purging all of their hate and anger. But not me." _

_He chuckled bitterly before the rage took over once more. _

"_Not me! I know she's a lie. Jasmine. My whole life's been built on them. I just... I guess I thought this one was better than the others."_

Connor's whole body seemed to shake as the memory filled him. Bile rose in his throat again and he felt the sting of his tears on his cheeks. He looked up, but Holtz was no longer there.

As he wiped the dampness from his face, a new presence filled the chamber.

"It wasn't working out for you, Connor," the voice asked. "So you just killed me?"

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	22. Choices

**AUTHOR'SNOTE :Looks like I'm on a roll - I have heaps from the next several chapters written, so updates should be coming a this speed for a while now. It's all-Pylea, all the time this chapter. We'll return to Spike Vs Dragon in the next chapter, I promise ;)**

**Flashbacks and more Connor!Angst approaching. **

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I still own nothing. So, in retaliation, I'm torturing the hell out of everyone - characters and readers alike cue evil laugh**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: CHOICES.**_

* * *

_

_It couldn't be…_

"Fred?" Angel asked, stunned.

The pretty Texan smiled at him warmly and nodded.

"What are you…?"

She hitched herself up to her full height. "I'm _the thing_ you have to face," she told him. "Your challenge."

Grinning broadly, she raised her fists and hopped about on the spot, mimicking a boxer.

"Come on, big guy."

He chuckled. "I'm not fighting you, Fred."

A brief laugh from her, light and girlish, before becoming serious.

"You're not here to fight, Angel," she told him, the gentle lilting of her voice bringing back a flood of memories. "You're here to stop."

"Stop?" He blinked; mirth fading, giving way to confusion. "Stop fighting? But…"

She nodded again. "It's time for it to end, Angel. You've done all you can do. You've atoned enough."

"This isn't about my _atonement_, Fred," he told her. "This is about stopping the Senior Partners before they unleash hell on earth. I _can't_ stop fighting. It's not about me. It's about…"

"It's _always_ been about you, Angel. Everything that happened? Connor being taken, Cordy dying, Charles and Wesley…" she paused, his name lingering on her lips like an elegy. "…and me. It's all been because of you. It's your punishment."

His eyes were wide. He couldn't have heard her right. "My…"

"Punishment," she repeated. Her features softened and she came towards him, laying a small hand on his arm. "Fighting the good fight, killing demons and stopping the apocalypse? None of that will ever make up for everything you did in the past, no matter how many lives you save. You know that."

"I… I thought it was about trying, just trying to do some good. I knew I'd never correct the balance, but I thought…"

"_We_ were your atonement, Angel," she said sadly.

_It couldn't be true. It just couldn't_, he thought. If his punishment was truly to lose everyone he cared for, then why hadn't the Powers allowed him to remain alone, wandering the streets of New York, in his self-imposed prison of despair? Instead, they had sent him Whistler, and then Doyle, to draw him back into the world. He had come to believe the more people he had on his team, in his _family_, the more good he could do.

And instead he had led them all to their deaths.

* * *

She stood before him, radiant and beautiful, the way he should have seen her when she was on Earth. Her beautiful face. 

Instead of comfort, all he felt was despair. He had only ever seen her true face before. Her maggot-infested, demonic visage. It had never bothered him then – after all, he had grown up in Quor'toth. But now, the beauty he saw in front of him simply represented yet one more thing he had been denied. The beautiful lie she told the world. The comfort it had brought everyone.

Everyone except him.

"You lost faith in me, Connor," she told him. "And as a result, you denied the world their paradise."

A tear slipped down his cheek. "What about my paradise?" he whispered. "Why couldn't I have seen what they saw? Felt what they felt?"

Her eyes were tender and sad. "Because you were not meant to," she replied. "I understand that now. You were not meant for this world. You were not meant to be created."

His eyes snapped up to meet hers. The one thing she had ever given him, the _one thing_, was the belief that his purpose in life had been to bring about her coming. If nothing else, he had that. A reason for being. Now…

"I was wrong in my choice of fathers," she went on. "If I hadn't been… the Earth would be a paradise."

He shut his eyes against her pitying stare. Memories of that moment – the moment he lost all hope – flashed through his mind.

"_Connor, I still have you," Jasmine said. "Angel's ruined everything. But he can't defeat both of us. You still believe in me, don't you? You still love me?"_

"_Yes." _

_He loved her as his fist punched though her face, through her skull, killing her instantly. He watched sadly as she crumpled to the ground, any hope he had of belonging dying with her._

As he remembered the moment he killed her, dizziness overtook him and he collapsed to his knees, dry-heaving as the scene played out in his head. He had wanted to fade away, disappear from the world in that moment. And then later…

Later he had truly wanted to die.

_The world was harsh and cruel. And Connor was trapped inside it as it spiraled out of control._

_He had sensed his father approaching without having to turn around. _One more step_, he thought… A little to the left…_

"_Connor… son?"_

_An explosion rocked the rear of the store in which they were holed up. The already terrified hostages screaming, ducking for cover._

"_You might not want to move," he called out to Angel. "The people are rigged, too."_

_Angel looked around at the frightened souls peering back at him and froze in_

_place._

"_Can't save them all, dad. You don't know who's going to be first. Could be any one of them."_

_He stood up and turned toward his father, the pain and the sadness marring his once young face. He looked haunted, older than his years. And as Angel dragged his gaze away from his son's face, he saw the explosives strapped to his chest._

"_Could be me."_

_He stepped aside then, giving Angel a clear view of the person he'd been sitting beside._

_Cordy._

_To the casual observer, she was sleeping peacefully. But for the several pounds of explosives that surrounded her unconscious form._

"_Could be her."_

_Angel looked back and forth between them, the two most important people in his life, and then to the hostages; frightened innocent people he had made it his mission in life to protect._

"_Son, you have to listen to me," he pleaded. "This is about Jasmine."_

"Jasmine…" he whispered, and she was at his side, wiping his clammy brow, comforting him.

"Its okay, Connor," she said softly in his ear. "It will all be over soon."

"_Jasmine's gone," he said._

_Angel nodded sadly. "I know. We all felt it, that perfect love… and then when we had to give it up…"_

_Rage spilled over. As always, his father didn't understand him. Any of it. "I didn't feel anything!" He stopped, chest heaving, before continuing in a quieter voice. "I can't feel anything. I guess I really am your son because I'm dead, too."_

"_You're not dead, Connor. You're just starting your life."_

"_No! You just weren't there before."_

"_I know. And I'm so—"_

"_Do not say you're sorry! It doesn't fix anything."_

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, the words tearing at his throat. "I'm so sorry…"

Jasmine continued to stroke his forehead. "I know Connor. I know."

He sobbed harder as the scene played out in his mind.

"_Then let me say this. I love you, son."_

"_It's a lie."_

"It's a lie," he whispered to her. "He didn't want me. He didn't love me. How could he after what I've done."

She smiled indulgently. "That's right, sweetheart. That's right."

"_It's not," Angel insisted._

"_It's always a lie. My dead mother couldn't even love me."_

"Your own mother killed herself so she wouldn't have to raise you, Connor," Jasmine whispered to him. "Because she knew she would never love you."

_And still, Angel kept arguing back. "You're wrong. She did."_

"_No. She knew she couldn't."_

"_She sacrificed herself because she loved you."_

"_You tried to love me…" Connor admitted. "At least I think you did."_

"_I still do."_

"_But not enough to hang on, dad," he sobbed back. "You let him take me away. You let him get me. You let him get me…" _

"He just let him take me," he sobbed into her dress. "He abandoned me."

"He wasn't the only one," she whispered back.

_He looked down at Cordelia's slumbering form._

"_Cordy, you swore you loved me. Where are you now?"_

"She's lost to you now, Connor," Jasmine whispered to him. "She chose him. Not you."

"_Connor, you have to believe that there are people who love you."_

"_Jasmine believed you when you said you loved her but it was all a lie," Connor replied angrily._

"_Jasmine was the lie."_

He could feel her hand still on face as she leaned closer to him. "Angel just can't accept those who don't fit into his perfect model of morality, Connor," she told him. "That's why he will never accept you. Not truly…"

"_No! She knew if you found out who she really was, that you'd turn against her. And she was right. That's just what happened. People like you…" Connor gestured wildly at the hostages. "People like this. None of you deserved what she could give you. She wanted to give you everything."_

"_I know how that feels because I want to give you everything. I want to take back the mistakes, help you start over."_

_Connor shook his head bitterly. "You can't start over."_

"_We can," Angel insisted. "I mean, we can change things."_

"_There's only one thing that ever changes anything and that's death. Everything else is just a lie. You can't be saved by a lie… you can't be saved at all." _

As the vision ended, Connor felt the bile rise in his throat once more. He rolled over and vomited as Jasmine rubbed his back, speaking in soothing tones.

"It's alright, baby. Just let it all out."

* * *

Angel felt sick to his stomach. "Fred, if that's true then…" He could barely bring himself to say it. "Then, all of this has been my fault." 

"No. Angel." She placed her hand on his down cast face and lifted his eyes up to meet her own. "We all chose to follow you."

"But you didn't know the risks."

She shook her head. "It wouldn't have mattered. We still would have done it. We would do it again," she insisted. "It was the right thing. The good fight. But now, it's over."

"I still don't understand, Fred," he told her. "If the fight is over, then why is there a war going on right now in LA? Why are Faith and the others outside this fortress right now, fighting? Why did we come here to face the Senior Partners?"

"Because_ you_ haven't ended it."

It sounded so incredibly simple. But he knew, in his unbeating heart, that nothing was _ever_ that simple. There would always be a price.

"I have to…?"

"You have to make a choice, Angel," she replied, her voice more serious than he had ever heard it. "You have decided whether to continue fighting and let hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions die; or to stop. End it right here and now, and the war ends, both here and LA."

Angel's eyes narrowed at the proposal.

"What's the catch?"

* * *

Cordy stood very still, her back to the altar, controlling her breathing and grasping her katana in her hand. Preparing herself for fight or, if necessary, flight. 

One last steadying breath and she spun around to face her foe.

She was only slightly embarrassed when a small shriek of surprise escaped her throat.

"Jeez, Cordelia. You'd give a guy a complex."

She felt shock. Then relief. Then annoyance. And finally, full-blown anger.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?"

He stepped down off the altar towards her. "Now, is that anyway to greet your guide, Ms Chase?" Skip asked.

She raised the sword a little higher and sneered at him. "No. The proper way for me to greet you would be to shove this sword through your chest. You set me up, you son of a bitch! First with the half-demon-making, then with tricking me into ascending to my big fluffy cloud prison in the sky; when all along you were working for Jasmine!"

He shrugged. "I admit - it looks bad for me. But I'm trying to fix it. After all, if it weren't for your demon-powers, you wouldn't be here right now and the Senior Partners wouldn't have to deal with you."

It took a moment for his words to sink in. "You work for the Senior Partners now?"

The demon shrugged again. "It pays better."

* * *

Connor felt as though the past year had never happened. He was plunged back, right into the middle of the despair Angel had found him in that mall. Back to a time before he'd been given a second chance with a loving family and a normal life. 

But now… the world seemed darker than it ever had before. Connor felt abandoned and alone. But for her gentle voice…

"It will all be over soon," she told him. "You just need to choose for it to end."

Eyes swollen and raw, he looked up into her beautiful face, but could derive no comfort from it. "I get to choose?"

She nodded, smiling down on him like a benevolent angel. "You were never meant for this world, Connor. You understand that now. You've caused so much hurt and pain to everyone, especially the people you care about the most. But there is a way to rectify all of that."

"How?" _Anything, _he thought. He would do anything to put this right. To stop his pain. To stop hurting Angel and Cordy and everyone else whose life he'd ruined.

"The Senior Partners require a sacrifice," she replied. "The three of you are only dangerous to them while you all continue to live. But if one of you were to… cease being a threat – the partners would be willing to let the others go, and stop the war."

It was a simple choice to make. He had been ready and more than willing to die a year ago. Now his death might serve a purpose.

He looked into her eyes and gave his answer.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	23. Lets Make a Deal

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

**CHAPTER 23 - LETS MAKE A DEAL**

* * *

"Woo-hoo!"

Spike whooped out as he flew through the air atop the dragon's back. He couldn't help but take a moment to enjoy the sensation – whipping though the air at an incredible speed. It made him feel alive. Almost.

Turning his attention towards the serious business at hand, he yanked at his axe, pulling it out of the dragon's thick hide and causing it to shriek.

"Sorry, girl, but it's time to get busy with the dying."

Steadying himself by bracing his knees at the creature's side, he raised the axe above his head, ready to bring down the final blow. Sensing this, the dragon changed direction, swinging around to make him loose balance. It zigzagged back and forth across the sky at dizzying speed.

Feeling himself slipping, Spike scrambled to grab hold of the beast, but in the process dropped his weapon. He slid off his perch on the dragon's back; his deathlike grip on one of its spines the only thing preventing him from falling a long way to the ground.

The dragon flew back and forth, trying to shake him off, but he hung on, clawing his way back onto its back. Then the creature drove, and he was almost flung over its head.

Cling on for dear life, Spike looked over the dragon's horned head to see what it was doing.

_It's aiming for the slayers on the roof, _he realized, yanking at the dragon's head in an attempt to get it to pull up. But it kept right on diving at full speed.

They were barely 100 yards away, when Spike had a bright idea. He just hoped they could hear him in time.

"Shoot it!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, getting the attention of Rona, who was still armed with the rocket launcher. "Shoot!"

She raised the weapon and took aim. Spike sensed the dragon tense underneath him, readying itself to make evasive maneuvers. Grabbing hold of the horn on its head, Spike dragged its head backwards, distracting it enough to make it halt its flight, baring its vulnerable underbelly as it tried to shake him off.

"Now!" he yelled.

Buffy heard the yell and looked up; watching in horror at the rocket flew straight for the dragon, Spike still on its back.

* * *

"So what do you mean you want to fix things?" Cordelia asked Skip.

"Well, aren't you tired of all this?" he asked her. "Wouldn't you like to go back to having a normal life?"

She laughed derisively. "What's normal?"

"Normal is not having to fight anymore. Not having the Senior Partners on your tail, trying to kill you," he answered. "Normal is living the rest of your life out the way it was meant to be, without this giant cosmic "uh oh" having screwed it up."

She rolled her eyes. Not this again. "We played this game before, remember? I wasn't meant to get the visions. I was meant to be a big TV star, yada yada. It didn't take."

He shrugged. "That's because the Powers offered you the wrong deal. The Partners won't make the same mistake."

She laughed again. "Yeah, because the Senior Partners are such benevolent souls."

"Benevolent? No," he replied. "Pragmatic – yes. You and Angel and Sonny-boy pose a big problem for them. Will they swat you down in the end? Hell yes. But they'll have to waste a hell of a lot of energy in doing so. Instead, they want to play lets make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

Skip smiled knowingly. "Tell me something. What was missing from your perfect life that the Powers gave you? You had all that wealth and fame and success – everything you'd ever dreamed of. So, what was missing? Why did you go back?"

"It wasn't my life," she told him. "You'd taken away my purpose…"

He smirked at her. "But that's not the _real _reason, is it Cordelia? That's not why it didn't feel right."

She paused, wanting to deny it. But she couldn't. "Angel…" she whispered.

"Bingo." He winked at her. "First rule of bargaining – know what your opponent _really_ wants. And those are your terms, right Cordelia? Knowing that you've fulfilled your destiny. And a normal, happy life with your vampire lover."

She said nothing, not willing to admit that he was right.

"The Partners are willing to give you that," he went on. "They'll call off the war, withdraw their demon army from LA and let you go. You just have to accept their terms."

Cordelia closed her eyes and thought about it. It was tempting. The battle finally being over. A normal life with Angel. What wasn't to love about that deal?

_But there _has_ to be a catch, _her cynical, realistic side said. _They're trying to trap you._

As if on cue, she heard the door behind her creak open.

* * *

Rondell was impressed in spite of himself. While battling demon after demon, he had caught a glimpse of Rieff. The demon didn't have any particular fighting skills per se, but he had the raw passion, the righteous fire that Rondell often saw in his own new recruits. Especially the ones that had lost family to vamps or demons.

Rondell grinned as he decapitated yet another opponent. Maybe the demon was alright after all.

Rieff was tiring quickly. Lister demons were not built for battle and, despite the training he had put himself through, he knew he was ill-prepared for this fight. Nevertheless, he kept going, ducking attacks as best he could, killing and injuring as many opponents as possible, trying to keep his heart from breaking as he witnessed the fall of many of his kinsmen.

After a great deal of effort, he managed to put down another hell spawn, more through outwitting it than through skill or strength. There was no time to pause for breath, however, as a member of the Scourge stepped into his path.

'End of the road, half-breed,' it snarled. 'For you and your pathetic race.'

Rieff shook his head, facing the larger demon defiantly. 'This might be my day to die,' he replied. 'But the Lister clan will live on. The time of the Pure-Bloods is long over. This isn't your world anymore.'

'We're here to take it back,' the demon spat back, as he lunged forward.

* * *

Raising her sword again, Cordelia spun round to see who was entering the chamber.

"Angel!" she gasped, running towards him and almost falling into his arms. "You're alright."

He held her close. "Yeah. Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything, right?"

He drew back from her to look her over; inspecting her for any injuries he hadn't spotted before.

"No, I'm fine," she told him. "Better now that you're here."

She suddenly remembered who else was in the room with them, and looked back towards the altar to gauge Skip's reaction. There wasn't one – Angel had clearly been expected.

"I'll leave the two of you alone," Skip said, disappearing through an archway to the rear of the altar.

She turned back to the vampire, confused. "Angel? What's going on?"

Taking both of her hands in his, he seemed to be trying to reassure her with his eyes. "I've struck a deal with the Partners, Cordy."

"There must be a special offer on today," she remarked. "What deal did they offer you?"

He sighed. "We're never going to win this. All we can do is make things difficult for them for a while. We won't stop them if we try to take them head on."

"What's the alternative? Just give up?"

"The alternative is we take their deal. They agree to leave us and the slayers in peace, go on about their business as they did before. And we agree to stop fighting them."

"What's the catch?" she asked immediately. It was the one thing still niggling at her, and she was surprised that it didn't seem to be bothering him too.

"We only stop being a threat to them in our human forms," he explained. "So, you'd have to give up your visions and your demon powers and I… I get to Shanshu."

Her eyes were wide. "They're allowing that?"

"I'm not a threat to them as a mortal. Giving me the reward mentioned in the prophesy is a small price to pay to remove me from the playing field, I guess."

It sounded too good to be true. "What about Connor?"

When he didn't reply, she knew she'd identified the catch. "No!"

"Cordy…"

"No, Angel! He's your son!"

"It'll be okay," he insisted. "They'll just recast the spell that took his memory before. He'll forget everything painful that happened and he can go back to his… his other family. He'll be happy with them. He was before."

She was incredulous. "And you're fine with that? You're prepared just to give him up again?"

He moved round behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them to relax her. "It's either this, or we all die, Cordy. It's a small price to pay to get our lives back, don't you think?"

As he rubbed, Cordelia felt her eyes get heavy, his voice soothing her. Gently, he stooped down and placed a kiss where her shoulder and neck met.

"We'll be free of all this, Cor. We can be together, properly, at last. No more fighting. No more curse. No more apocalypses. Just you and me, together for the rest of our lives."

He kissed her neck again, his lips gently caressing her skin. She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears forming in them.

There was something wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but a niggling doubt had crept into her mind, worrying at her. Something wasn't right.

Angel didn't give up this easily. There had to be something else. Something else pushing him into quitting. Into making this deal. If she could just figure out what it was…

Then an idea struck her…

"What did you make me promise you, Angel?" she almost whispered.

"What?" he asked, not understanding the question.

"Just tell me," she insisted. "What did I promise you?"

There was a smile in his voice. "That you'd love me forever."

"_No_. Back in the beginning. When I first started working for you. What was the one thing you made me promise?"

"Cordy, I…" he sounded uncertain. His hands stilled. "What does it matter?"

"Come on, Angel. After Penn did his "Apt Pupil" impression and Wesley and I thought you were the one killing those people. What did you make me promise?"

The confidence was back in his voice. "You promised never to doubt me again."

A single tear ran down her face. Slowly she reached into her pocket as he returned his attention to her neck.

In one seamless motion she spun, plunging the wooden stake into his chest. The look of shock on his face drew a sob from her throat as she watched him turn to dust.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	24. Bargaining

**Disclaimer - See previous chapters**

**CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR - BARGAINING**

* * *

"What have you done?"

Slowly, she turned to face Skip.

"You just casually staked the love of your life?" He was incredulous.

"That wasn't Angel," she told him, angrily wiping away the tears from her face. "The real Angel would have known that the only thing he ever made me promise was that I would kill him if I had to."

The demon's face contorted in fury.

"You stupid bitch!" he growled. "You've just made a _very_ big mistake."

With a ferocity and speed she was not expecting, he lunged at her, wrapping one large hand around her throat and pinning her to the wall.

"Believe me when I tell you – you _will_ pay."

* * *

Rieff moved just in time to avoid the full force of the blade, but he felt the cold steel bite into his arm. Clenching his teeth again the pain, he brought his own sword up and swung at the demon. Steel clashed on steel as his attack was blocked.

Teeth bared in a grotesque grin, the Scourge demon lifted his boot and kicked Rieff backwards, making him stumble to the ground. As he grasped around for his sword, he saw the demon foot soldier march towards him.

"You were right about one thing, half-breed," the demon sneered. "Today _is_ your day to die."

The blade felt like both fire _and_ ice as it pierced his skin. _How odd_, he thought, _that pain should both burn and freeze._

The blade was drawn out of his flesh again and with it escaped a gasp. A warm gush of blood flowed through his fingers as he struggled to breathe.

The weapon rose high in the air, the fatal blow coming. Except it didn't. Struggling to stay conscious, Rieff opened his eyes and looked up.

Rondell was battling the Scourge warrior, raining heavy blows upon him. Confusion temporarily overshadowed the searing pain that was ripping though his stomach. Why had the human stepped in to help him?

Pressing his left hand tightly against the wound in his gut, trying to staunch the bleeding, he struggled back onto his feet, grunting in agony. If this was his day to die, he would do it bravely, as Doyle had taught him. He wouldn't quietly slip away as others fought this battle for him.

Rondell was an accomplished street fighter, a force to be reckoned with. But the Scourge were a group of highly trained soldiers, utterly single-minded and fanatical. Soon, the demon gained the upper hand. As Rieff struggled to make his way to where they were fighting, Rondell suddenly found himself unarmed.

Dodging back out of the way of the demon's weapon, he unsuccessful tried to retrieve his own. The Scourge was fast, blow coming swiftly after blow, making Rondell have to move quickly, taking him further and further away from his abandoned axe.

One wrong move and the demon's blade connected with his shoulder, sending a wave of pain through him. A flesh wound only, but enough to slow him down slightly. Enough for the next blow to knock him off balance and on to the ground.

Thoughts of his crew, of his long dead family, of his fallen comrade Charles Gunn, flashed through his mind as the demon towered above him, weapon raised.

Acceptance of his imminent death gave way to incredulity as the Scourge stopped, gasping for air, a blade sticking through his chest. As the demon fell, Rieff stood shakily behind his corpse, still clutching his bloodied sword.

"What the hell, man?" Rondell said, clambering to his feet.

"You saved my life," the Lister demon stated simply. "In my culture, that means I owe you a debt."

Triumph in battle gave way to a new wave of pain, which in its turn gave way to blackness.

Rondell caught him as he fell to the ground.

* * *

Fred smiled.

"The catch?" she asked, as though she didn't understand the question.

He didn't reply, just raised an eyebrow and waited. And so did she, until they heard the sound of dozens for footsteps, marching through the entrance hall towards the chamber they now stood in.

"The catch is that you accept their terms. _In there entirety_."

The door swung open and demon troops entered. _A trap_, Angel thought. _Not like I wasn't expecting it_.

But then he saw something he wasn't expecting. Faith. Giles. Lorne. Held tightly by the demons; battered and bruised into submission. Faith looked half dead, her head hanging limply to one side, a large gash on her forehead an indication as to the cause of her unconsciousness.

Wide-eyed, he turned back to Fred for an explanation, but she was Fred no longer. A blue-haired demon stood in her place.

"You have failed," she stated in her clipped, emotionless tone. "Your army has been decimated. The slayers and the Pylean traitors have been slaughtered. We have allowed these three to remain alive. For now."

Angel raised his sword. Despite the odds, he wasn't prepared to have his friends held as some kind of bargaining chip. He had barely traveled one step, however, when a strong hand wrapped itself around the back of his neck and raised him into the air.

"Your courage is admirable, if not based on good sense," Illyria remarked before flinging him across the room and headlong into a wall. He crumpled to the ground, winded from the impact.

Shaking it off, he got back to his feet, ready to try again. He charged forward, his sword slicing through the first demon he encountered with ease, so he swiftly moved on to the next.

Three on one, Angel caught one about the head with a flying round-house kick, another with a crushing blow from his fist, before running his sword through the third's throat.

Those opponents had no sooner dropped than the next came forwards. Angel bested them, and still more took their place. On and on in an endless cycle. How long before he could defeat them all? How long before he made one costly mistake?

Illyria watched the scene, caught between passivity and amusement. The vampire had spirit. Tenacity. But it would get him nowhere. Soon her amusement faded away and she was merely bored.

"Enough!" she called out, moving swiftly forward and knocking the demons away before grasping Angel once more about the throat. "This battle will not end well for you, vampire. Accepting our offer is the only way your friends will leave this place alive."

With her god-like strength, she again flung him like a rag-doll against the wall.

"Angel!"

* * *

"Spike!" Buffy screamed.

A split second before impact, Spike flipped himself backwards, off of the dragon's back and plummeted to the ground as the rocket detonated. There was a flash of light, a rush of heat, a final screech as his scaly opponent was blown to smithereens.

He hit the ground hard, feeling like he had shattered more than a few bones. If he had breath in him, it would have well and truly been knocked out. He was lying on his back, watching the last of the light show overhead when a blonde practically flung herself at him.

"Ow! _Easy, Slayer_! Injured vampire here," he admonished her, a grin playing round the edges of his voice.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned and relieved all at once. "Can you stand?"

He struggled onto his side and she helped him the rest of the way to his feet.

"I guess I'll live," he remarked. "Or not, as the case may be."

* * *

Looking up from his vantage point of the floor, he saw Cordelia had entered the chamber, held tightly by a huge, armored demon that, on closer inspection, looked like Skip.

Behind her was Connor, flanked by two other demons. While Cordy was struggling fiercely with her captor, Connor walked meekly, his demon guards barely needing to hold on to him. He looked broken, defeated. Angel tried to remember the last time his son looked that lost, and the memory of it made his insides turn cold.

"Angel, whatever they ask, don't do it!" Cordy yelled, still trying in vein to escape Skip's grasp.

Illyria was at his side once more. "It's a simple choice, vampire. Your life for theirs."

"No!" Cordelia yelled again, somehow slipping free of Skip and running towards him. She skidded, coming to rest on the ground in his arms. "It's a trap, Angel. Don't do it."

She was wrenched out of his grasp immediately; Skip's clawed hand clutching at her hair, making her cry out in pain. Angel tried to reach for her, but Illyria held him back, while Skip produced a knife and held it to Cordelia's slender neck.

"The choice is simple, vampire," Illyria stated. "You could continue along your present course of action, watch your friends, your son, the woman you love, all die. Then _you_ will die in the knowledge that everyone you left behind in Los Angeles have perished. Or, you can agree to end it. _Now_. Your life for theirs."

Cordy's eyes were wide as they looked into his. With the little movement she had in the demon's grip she shook her head, mouthing "No".

"I agree, and what's to stop you killing them anyway?" he asked, not taking his eyes from Cordelia's.

"You have the Senior Partners word," Fred answered.

His head snapped around to see the young Texan again standing by his side. Gently, she reached out and touched his face.

"Isn't it time it was over, Angel?" she asked softly. "How many more need to die to atone for your sins? Only _you_ can end it."

Angel's eyes narrowed in mistrust. "You're not the real Fred," he spat.

She shrugged. "Maybe not. But that _is_ a real knife at your girlfriend's throat," she stated, causing him to look back at Cordelia. A thin trickle of blood flowed down her neck from where the blade bit into her skin. He could smell her blood. He could smell her terror.

Despite everything, there was still fight in her eyes. "Don't," she whispered to him.

Fred's voice was suddenly harsh and cold. "Fine. Slit her throat. Then kill the boy!"

"Wait!"

The imposter wearing Fred's face regarded him curiously.

"You promise you won't kill them?"

She smiled. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	25. Realization

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters.**

**CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE - REALIZATION**

* * *

"You agree then?"

He looked into her eyes one last time, filled as they were with fear, with strength, with love. After well over two centuries walking this earth, there was still plenty he didn't know. But in that moment, there was one thing that he was sure of.

_He couldn't let her die._

"Yes."

A flash of bright, white light, her voice crying his name and then… nothingness.

The deal was struck.

* * *

Xander and Dawn left the haven of the Hotel for the chaos of the battlefield. And chaos it most certainly was. From their vantage point, it was hard to tell which side was winning and which was not. Bodies were strewn about, human and demon alike. Charred chunks of flesh, vaguely resembling Dragon parts, were scattered here and there. Chaos.

Taking a deep breath, they launched themselves back into the heart of it once more.

Xander didn't see the first demon coming. Blindsiding the one-eyed man, it knocked him several meters through the air before he went crashing to the ground.

"Xander!" Dawn yelled, raising her axe and positioning herself square on to the demon.

It snarled and swiped a set of razor-sharp talons at her, not remotely intimidated by the little girl with the axe.

Crouching low, and snarling one more time, it sprang at her.

* * *

Skip's hand tightened around her throat and he crushed her body against the wall.

"Do you think you're clever, Seer?" he sneered at her. "If you can see the future, don't you realize you have no choice in this?"

Cordelia gasped for breath. "There's—always—a choice."

"Here's a choice for you. We have both of your boys," he told her, increasing the pressure. "If you want them to live, you'd better agree to our terms."

She felt herself start to go limp, as all the fight left her body with the oxygen she was being deprived of. She allowed herself to go boneless, hoping the demon would loosen his grip. He didn't.

"I can't wait to get my hands on your boyfriend," Skip said, his voice a low threat in her ear. "I think I'll rip his heart out with my bare hand."

Her heart lurched. Without thinking, she felt a surge of energy through her body. A flash of light and Skip howled out in pain, dropping her to the ground.

She massaged her neck, feeling the circulation returning. That would leave a bruise. But, she had more pressing things to worry about right now.

"You're awful keen for me to _agree_ to your terms," she remarked, putting the pieces together. "Big, powerful demon like you. The Senior Partners. Seems a bit strange that you can't kill me without my _permission._"

The demon looked surprised. Then he smirked. "Clever girl."

* * *

Dawn braced her weapon for an impact that never came. A taser blast came out of nowhere, knocking the demon backwards.

"You alright, Dawn?" Andrew asked, running to her.

"Sure," she replied. "Just peachy. Thanks."

Turning to Xander, she extended a hand and helped the dazed man back onto his feet. She was about to suggest they move back towards the front when she heard the snarling once more.

"Andrew! Watch out!"

The demon had gotten over the taser blast a lot quicker than any of them had anticipated. Leaping through the air, it took Andrew down, snapping at his throat. A yelp, like a wounded dog, then it shuddered and went still.

Dawn and Xander ran to pull the demon off the would-be-watcher. The sword Andrew had carried had run through the demon upon impact. The beast was dead.

And so was Andrew.

* * *

"The prophesy was a trap, wasn't it?"

Cordy got to her feet, her stance defiant. She wasn't going to let some lackey demon intimidate her. Skip said nothing, still rubbing at the hand she had burned.

"The part about the three of us being needed to stop the Senior Partners was pure crap, wasn't it," she pressed on. "The Partners needed something from us. Something they could only take if we agreed."

"Quite the little Nancy Drew, aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "_Please_. It's all becoming painfully obvious. The Partners orchestrated this whole thing to get us here. I just want to know why."

He chuckled. "You think they just orchestrated _this_? Try _everything_. Everything from you coming to LA and hooking up with Angel in the first place, to him knocking up Darla. Your ascension. Jasmine. Angel defeating the Circle of the Black Thorn. _Everything._"

She shook her head. "No. They couldn't have controlled all of that."

He laughed, long and derisively. "Who do you think you're dealing with? Some backstreet demon with high ambitions? We're talking the supreme evil in the universe. They guys that started it all."

Things were starting to become a little too clear. "The First Evil?"

"Older," Skip replied. "The Partners _created_ Evil. Sent it into the world to do their bidding. Only, it was like them. Unable to take corporeal form in any dimension save their own. And so the First had to use lackeys. Lackeys who unfortunately proved to be six kinds of useless. And so that little mission was a failure."

"The Partners were the ones that wanted the Slayers wiped out?"

"Yeah. But we're making it work anyway. And very soon, the Slayers won't be a problem any more. And neither will you."

"Just one problem with that," Cordy replied. "You need me to willingly give up my life or my demon powers, or whatever it is you want from me. And now I've figured out your little plan, that's hardly likely to happen, is it?"

"I have to admit, Cordelia, you're a lot smarter than you look," the demon replied sarcastically. "But you put the pieces together just a little late."

She snorted. "Hardly. I haven't agreed to anything, have I?"

"No." Skip smiled. "But _they_ have."

She frowned. "_They_ who?"

"Batman and the Boy Wonder," he replied. "They just couldn't wait to give up. And now? You're all alone."

* * *

The front lines of the battle were getting hairy and, try as she might, Willow still couldn't master the new powers she hoped she possessed.

Relying on her old ones, she threw fireball after fireball, taking out demon after demon. But there were plenty more to go around and she knew she couldn't keep this up for ever. Her energy supplies, though strong, would tire out eventually.

A huge, armor-platted demon stepped into her field of vision, heading straight for her. Concentrating, she created a large ball of energy out of nothing and flung it at him.

The energy ball didn't have the desired effect. Instead, it deflected off the demon's armor and headed back towards her, exploding barely a few feet from where she stood.

The blast knocked her clean off her feet and she flew back several meters before landing with a thud, banging her head. She lay there for a moment, trying to stop the world from spinning.

When she opened her eyes again, she realized that she hadn't been entirely successful. She was no longer on the battle field. Instead she lay on a bridge, in the middle of a park, on a beautiful sunny day. And before her stood an even more beautiful vision.

Tara.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	26. Sources

**Thanks to everyone that is still reading and especially to those who have reviewed. You guys rock my world.**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters - nothing has changed, they're still not mine :(**

**CHAPTER TWENTY SIX - SOURCES**

* * *

A sob rose in her throat as she got shakily to her feet, not trusting her eyes.

"Tara? Baby? Is that you?"

The love of her life smiled sadly and nodded, reaching out a hand to her. Willow took it, and marveled at the warmth she felt.

"I've missed you so much."

"And I've missed you," Tara told her. "But I've always been with you. But now, I need to make my presence felt."

"What's going on?"

"I'm so proud of you, Willow," she answered. "You've mastered your dark side and become more powerful than any of us could have imagined. You need to remember that now. You need to remember that we can never let the darkness in us win, no matter what happens."

Willow was confused. "Tara, what's going on?" she repeated.

Tara gently lifted a hand to touch the flame-haired witch's cheek. "You need to find your anchor, Willow. You can't let go of it."

"My anchor?" Willow asked, remembering who had used that term before. "Kennedy?"

Tears sprang up in Tara's eyes. "I'm so sorry, Willow," she whispered. "You've already lost so much. _Too much_."

"Tara! What's going to happen?" Icy dread had begun to fill her.

"You need to hang on to her love," Tara insisted. "And to mine. We will be with you forever. Don't give in to hate. Use it. And cling to our love."

"Tara!" Willow cried out as the sky darkened and Tara began to fade.

"I'm so sorry, baby," the other witch whispered and then she was gone, leaving Willow surrounded by death and war once more.

Scrambling to her feet, she looked around for Kennedy. Spotting a familiar profile, she rushed forward, grabbing a fallen sword from the ground as she went. She moved faster than she ever had before, blindly shoving demons out of her way, using the sword like a machete through the chaos.

She barely felt the attack coming. A hell-beast pounced from behind, throwing her off balance again. Using magic, she managed to push him away enough to angle herself into a better defensive position. When the creature rushed at her again, she was able to insert the sword between them. The beast fell to the ground with a yelp, freeing Willow to continue on her way.

As she turned, she was finally afforded a clear view of Kennedy, battling two members of the Sisterhood of Jhe at once. She was bloodied and battered, but still she battled bravely on.

Willow had taken but another step when the first blow landed, heavy and hard across the young slayer's stomach, nearly slicing her in two and doubling her over in agony. Willow's voice was strangled and muted as she screamed her lover's name.

The second blow was just as vicious, a kick to the head from the second demon. Kennedy's head snapped back as she went crashing to the ground.

Darting forward, Willow didn't even notice the two she-demons bursting into flames, victims of an enraged and powerful witch. Every ounce of her attention was fixed on the fallen warrior before her.

She fell to her knees and cradled her lover's head in her lap, her tears mingling with the blood and sweat on Kennedy's face. The injured slayer gasped, then smiled, her eyes fixing on Willow's.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," Willow choked out. "We need to get you back to the hotel."

Kennedy shook her head. "It's okay. It doesn't hurt anymore."

Sobs wracked through the witch as she saw her lover slipping away from her. "Kennedy…"

"Sssh," she replied. "I love you."

Her eyes closed and with a final sigh, she was gone.

Tears poured down the witch's grief-stricken face. "I love you too."

* * *

"You're lying," Cordelia stated, refusing to believe any part of what he was telling her. _It couldn't be true_. "Angel and Connor would never…"

The demon smirked. "Really? You sure about that?" He regarded her with a self-satisfied air. "Because I seem to recall a certain young, now very stable man strapping a whole heck of a lot of high explosives to himself – _and you_ – fully prepared to kill himself, oh – not even a year ago. Not to mention Angel's little kamikaze stunt when he went up against the Black Thorn."

_Lies_, she told herself. _All lies_. And yet…

And yet, there was still a small part of her mind that thought maybe… maybe under the right circumstances, they would agree to sacrifice themselves. If it meant others would live… _Wasn't that what made them champions_?

And still the question remained – _Why_? Why not just kill all of them straight away? Why did the Partners need their consent?

"Go on," he told her. "Ask."

His taunting voice brought her back out of her thoughts. "What?"

"_Why are you doing this_?" he asked in a mocking imitation. "I know you're dying to know."

"Tell me if you're going to," she answered dismissively.

He laughed. "Defiant to the last. I had a feeling you'd be the hardest nut to crack."

She huffed out a breath. "Yeah, because you know me _so _well."

"Actually, I do," he told her. "I know _all _of you. I knew what you'd do when you read that fake prophecy. I knew you'd fall for it, like you did all the rest."

"The rest?"

He was smiling broadly now, relishing every moment of telling his twisted tale. "'_The Father will kill the Son' – _Wesley really lapped that one up, didn't he? And don't get me started on the _Shanshu _'prophesy'. Without Team Angel falling for all of the crap we spoon-fed you, we'd never have gotten this far."

Her thoughts where stopped in their tracks. Surely he wasn't saying…

"The Shanshu…?"

"A big, fat fake," he told her with gusto. "Don't think I don't appreciate the delicious cruelty of it. Fighting for an atonement he will _never _receive. All so that it would bring him _here._ This moment. So that he could sacrifice that precious soul of his, and cover the Earth with darkness once more."

She shook her head, refusing to believe that it was true. "No."

"His soul will bring forth one of the Senior Partners. Connor's will bring forth the second. And you…" his eyes darkened with bloodlust. "You were to raise up the third."

_Rage._

Rage seethed within her soul. _They were just puppets. _Everything they had done had been part of some evil plan…

The fury built, taking on a mind of its own. For a moment, she felt detached from her body, as though someone else has taken possession of it. Without giving it conscious thought, energy surged from her.

A ball of fire she had no idea how to create flew from her hand to incinerate the demon before her.

* * *

Grief, pain, rage, hatred, sorrow, vengeance. All bubbled within her. She felt the darkness rise within her, as it had done when she lost Tara. As she struggled to get to her feet, she could feel her eyes starting to turn black.

"No!" she screamed, loud and long, a fireball forming in her hands. She flung it forward, catching several demons at once and burning them to a crisp before they knew what was happening.

"_We will be with you forever. Don't give in to hate. Use it. And cling to our love."_

She heard Tara's voice speak within her, her words warm and so full of love.

"_You need to remember that we can never let the darkness in us win, no matter what happens."_

She struggled to hold onto that feeling – the love in Tara's words, the love in Kennedy's voice as she passed away. Their love was her anchor, Tara has told her. She had to hold onto it. And, as she did, a sense of peace settled over her.

The heat within her grew, taking her breath away, drawing a gasp from her throat. She was sure she would burst into flame from the intensity of the warmth. It filled ever crevice of her being, as though seeking a way out.

She looked down at her hands and saw that they were glowing, white and pure energy radiating off them. She knew without knowing that her eyes were no longer black, the same way she knew that her hair was now a pure glowing white.

The light burst out of her, surrounding her, lifting her several feet into the air. In the immediate vicinity, she sensed the fighting cease, as demons and slayers alike watched her in fascination.

Taking advantage of his current opponent's distraction, Spike cleaved his head from his shoulders before turning to watch the light show.

"About bloody time, Glenda," he remarked, smirking fiercely.

The light intensified, swirling around Willow like a tornado, before exploding with all the force of an atomic bomb. The wave of light swept forward, knocking everyone nearby off their feet with its power. Like a tsunami, the energy rushed towards the demon army, hitting them head on.

The power began to subside, and the witch felt herself slowly drift back to the ground. Gasping, she looked out ahead of her.

At least half of the remaining demon forces had been decimated.

* * *

The charred remains of Skip lay at her feet as Cordelia tried to get her breathing under control.

_What a rush._

That was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. The feeling she experienced when using her own demon powers was intense, but it came from a place of peace and tranquility. But this new power – the fire – it was something altogether different. Anger. Loss. Pain. It was fuelled by a darker side of her soul.

She had sensed something else too. A connection. Consciously, she hadn't known what she was doing when she formed that fireball, but on a subconscious level, it felt like she was channeling someone else.

"Willow," she whispered to herself. The power had come from the Witch, she knew that somehow. They shared a connection now. One that could prove very useful – if she figured out how to use it in time.

"I see your connection to the Witch is strengthening," a voice remarked.

Startled, she looked up, only to be greeted by a terrifying sight. A huge demon, ancient looking, bearing the head of what looked like a deer. Or a Hart…

"No matter," it continued. "You will be dead long before you master your shared gifts."

Cordy stood her ground. "Everyone around here seems to talk a good game," she remarked. "Lots and lots of talk about killing me. Pretty much _all talk_, though, aren't you?"

"Insolent mortal. I could grind you into dust and scatter you to the wind before you could utter another word."

"You think you're scaring me?" she snorted derisively. "You can't lay a finger on me. You're only corporeal in your own dimension."

"Stupid girl," it replied with a sneer.

One clawed hand shot out, hitting her with a ferocious backhand that sent her flying across the room.

"This _is_ my own dimension."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	27. Changing Fortunes

**Author's Note -** I have to apologise for the delay between updates, particularly after being on a roll before. Sadly, my best friend's mum passed away two weeks ago, and it took me a while to get back into the swing of things again. I'm not entirely sure that I'm satisfied with this chapter - and it is short, so I apologise - but I wanted to get things moving again with the story.

As always, thank you to everyone who has supported this story. We're building up towards the big finish now - only a handful of chapters still to come - so I hope you'll continue to follow this until the end.

**CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN - CHANGING FORTUNES**

* * *

Now Cordelia understood where the expression "seeing stars" came from – bright white lights danced before her eyes as a wave of dizziness hit her. Her head throbbed from where it had impacted on the ground.

Blinking several times, trying to get her eyes to focus, she could see the Hart move towards her. Trying to ignore her injuries, she rolled out of its way just in time and somehow staggered to her feet.

"You are only delaying the inevitable," it told her.

She dodged him again, adrenalin pretty much the only thing keeping her on her feet at this point. "What happened to you having to get my permission before you killed me?" she asked, hoping to get it talking – anything to delay it while she figured out what to do. "I thought I had to be a willing sacrifice."

"We have long since passed that point," it replied. "However, my brethren are even now making the preparations necessary for our true rising. I will not be able to join them on this occasion, but soon, when the Slayers are destroyed, then we will have more time to achieve my ascension."

"Your brethren?" she asked, becoming worried. Had they already risen? Did that mean that Connor and Angel were already…?

"They have already begun drawing energy from the vampire and his whelp," the Hart replied. "They have gone on ahead."

"Are they… Angel and Connor – are they dead?"

It sneered at her. "It is only a matter of time."

* * *

A cheer rose up through the night air. 

The demon army was in disarray, at least half of its ranks gone.

_But it was not the time for celebrations_, Buffy thought. They still needed to ensure their victory.

"Form ranks!" she yelled. "Prepare to drive them back!"

The Slayers moved quickly into position. From what Buffy could see, there were still around twenty of Rondell's crew left, and maybe a dozen of their demon allies. These two groups joined in the ranks of the slayers.

Willow stood, staring off, lost in thought. Buffy touched a hand tenderly to her friend's arm.

"You with us?"

The witch nodded, still looking straight ahead. "Let's do it."

Drawing her sword once more, Buffy called back over her shoulder. "Forward!"

They surged forward as one force, feeling unstoppable and, perhaps, invincible. They cut a swath through the demon ranks, and Buffy was convinced it would all be over in mere moments when the demons began to retreat.

The earth rumbled. And in the midst of the chaos of what seemed to be a victorious battle, Buffy looked up to see exactly where the demons were retreating to.

They were clustering behind two huge, animal-like demons.

A wolf. And a ram.

* * *

The Hart attacked again and Cordy barely dodged it in time. She was against the clock now – there could be no more stalling for time or keeping the demon talking until she could figure a way out. Angel and Connor were dying a little more every second. She had to fight back and get away, so she could help them. 

Focusing as best she could, she willed her mind to form another ball of fire. She could feel a spark between her fingers and, as she concentrated, the heat grew.

She dodged the demon again and then threw the ball of fire she had somehow magically conjured.

The demon's hand flew out, its scaly hide deflecting the fire with ease and sending it straight back towards Cordelia. There was no time to dodge out of the way. No time to figure out how to deflect it. It was headed straight for her.

* * *

The front ranks of slayers didn't see the bolt of energy until it was too late. 

_A flash of lightening. The smell of charred flesh. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air._

While the Wolf-demon shot lightening from its clawed hands, the Ram lashed out with the club it was carrying, swatting slayers like flies.

In mere seconds, at least twenty slayers lay dead.

Buffy didn't need to be told. She knew instinctively that these were no ordinary demons. They were the Senior Partners.

_Angel had failed._

There was no time to mourn or even to worry about how they could possibly defeat the enemy now. If they stayed there, they would be wiped out in minutes.

"Fall back!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs. "Fall back!"

Spike came to a halt at her side, wide-eyes with amazement. "Any bright ideas, Slayer?" he asked her, clearly at a loss.

"We need to fall back to a better position," she muttered, almost to herself. "We're too exposed here."

They were backing up, away from the massive demons, who seemed to be biding their time for the moment, so sure of victory that they felt no need to rush.

"Will!" she called to the witch. "The hotel? Will the barrier hold?"

Willow looked uncertain. "Not for long," she replied honestly.

"It's our best option," Buffy decided. "Fall back to the hotel!"

Slayers, demons and street fighters alike scattered, the fit helping the injured, stumbling and staggering their way to safety.

Buffy and Spike brought up the rear, holding off the few lesser demons that still pursued them. When they were nearly at the doors of the hotel, Buffy turned and ran for it.

She didn't see the bolt of lightening coming at her. She barely even felt it. But as her body crumpled to the ground, she thought she heard Spike scream her name.

* * *

Cordy's eyes squeezed shut as the fireball was about to hit. Only – it didn't. Opening her eyes again, more confused than relieved, she discovered she was at the other side of the chamber, behind the demon. 

'_How the hell did I get over here_?' she wondered.

Apparently the demon was wondering the same thing. It looked around, almost comical in its confusion, until it spotted her. Then it snarled.

"The few witches tricks you possess will not help you," it told her.

_Witches tricks?_

Cordelia mentally scrolled through the list of powers she knew Willow possessed until she hit gold. Had she also gained Willow's ability to teleport? And if so, could she somehow figure out how to control it?

The Hart was clearly not willing to allow her the time to get used to her new powers. Drawing its massive sword, it moved towards her, determined that she would not escape him this time.

Cordelia knew she only had one shot at this. Closing her eyes, she focused on where she needed to go.

_She focused on Angel._

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	28. Cornered

**Author's Note - A big hearty thank you to everyone that's still reading this.**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight - Cornered.**

* * *

The chamber was dark and it took a few moments before her eyes adjusted to the gloom. From the look of the damp walls, the low ceiling and the lack of windows, Cordelia guessed she was somewhere in the lower levels of the fortress – perhaps a basement…

…_Or the dungeon_, she thought with a shudder, as she spotted the shackles on the walls and an iron maiden hanging in the corner.

She saw them in the centre of the room, each lying on a narrow stone altar, parallel with each other.

"Angel!" she gasped, rushing to his side and taking his hand. "Angel! Wake up."

When there was no response, she took him by the shoulders and shook him gently.

"Angel!"

Further, more violent shaking still had no effect. Moving to Connor, she repeated the process – to no avail.

Above her, in a distant corner of the fortress, she heard a door slam, followed by footsteps.

She didn't have much time.

Grasping both their hands, she hoped the whole teleportation deal worked with passengers.

* * *

"No!"

Willows eyes were wide with shock as she watched Buffy crumple to the ground. As Spike dashed to the fallen Slayer's side, the Witch could see one of the demons preparing to fire another bolt of energy.

Without thinking, Willow glowed white-hot, and sent out a wave of bright light, hitting the demons square on. Several of the lesser demons, cowering behind, were incinerated instantly. The energy pushed the Wolf and the Ram back and deflected their own energy bolt, but otherwise left them unharmed.

"Get Buffy inside," she commanded, sending out another wave of energy which deflected another attack by the demons, but still left them unharmed.

Spike gathered Buffy into his arms and ran down the path into the hotel.

The Wolf sneered at Willow, now standing all alone in front of the hotel.

"You will not defeat us, Witch," it told her.

"We'll see."

Another burst of light, dazzling in its brightness, making it impossible to see. When the light subsided, she was gone.

* * *

The footsteps were getting closer. Still in an upper level of the fortress, but unmistakable nearer. It was only a matter of time…

She was concentrating with all her might, but nothing was happening. She couldn't take both of them at once. It was like she was being weighed down – an anchor around her neck. And now she was panicking.

She was going to have to take them one at a time. There was nothing else for it. She just had to hope that she could get back before…

Another door burst open above her somewhere. God, that was close…

Cordy took a deep breath. She didn't need to debate over who she'd take first – she knew what Angel would have wanted. That didn't mean that it didn't break her heart to let go of his hand and hold Connor's more tightly.

She looked down at the comatose vampire, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"I'll be back for you," she whispered.

And then, she and Connor were gone.

* * *

It had been a fierce battle.

The fifty or so warriors had been ferocious – battle-ready and highly skilled. But Faith's girls were better. She had hand-picked the nine slayers that accompanied her to Pylea and they had not disappointed her. Using their superior agility, their training and, of course, their slayer speed and strength, they had eventually gained the upper hand in this fight. And victory had been theirs.

Now Faith surveyed the battle-field, wiping the blade of her sword on the long grass before gazing towards the fortress, which was silhouetted against the night sky. And now she was faced with another decision. Should she wait here, as Angel had instructed, until they returned? Or should she go in after them?

She sensed a presence at her side and turned to face Giles, whose gaze was trained on the exact spot hers had been a moment before.

"We should go in," she told him.

"It's only been an hour," he replied, his voice calm and measured. "We have to give them time."

"_Exactly_," the slayer shot back, frustrated. "It's been _an hour_. Something could have happened."

"I suspect we'd all be dead by now, if it had," was his only reply.

Heavy footsteps announced the arrival of Landok.

"We must go," he said. "These warriors fear for the safety of their families. We wish to return to our villages and homesteads before the wrath of the Dark Fortress is visited upon them in vengeance for our actions here."

Giles nodded. "Of course. Thank you for your help."

The Pylea warrior nodded and moved off, followed by his kinsmen.

"How are the injured?" Faith wanted to know.

Giles glanced back towards the rest of their group. "None badly," he replied. "Lorne is tending to them."

"Good," she replied, sheathing her sword. "Keep an eye out, okay?"

She went to walk away, but the Watcher placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing, Faith?"

"Well, you gotta figure it'd be easier for one of us to get into that place, than a whole bunch."

"Faith…" he began sternly, but he didn't have the chance to finish his sentence. A bright flash of light appeared in front of them, subsiding to reveal two figures.

"Cordelia?"

The seer was knelt beside the inanimate figure of Connor.

"What happened?" Giles asked, crouching down at Connor's side and checking for a pulse.

"There's no time," Cordy replied. "Look after him. Get everyone in the van and be ready to go when I get back."

"Back?" Faith asked, but it was too late. Cordelia was gone as quickly as she appeared.

* * *

The hotel ballroom was in a blind panic when Willow teleported inside. They were leaderless, cornered like rats and even the bravest amongst them were terrified.

Willow ran to the far corner, where Spike had laid Buffy gently on a mattress and was now sponging the blood from her face.

"Is she…?" she couldn't bring herself to form the question.

"She's still alive," the vampire replied gravely. "Barely."

"Willow!" someone called out. She returned to the doors and to the slayer that called her.

"Can they get in here?"

"The force-field will hold – for a little while," Willow replied. Closing her eyes, she measured her breath and concentrated. Muttering a few well chosen words, the doors glowed for a moment, before fading back to normal. "That should buy us a little more time."

Several of the slayers, Rondell and some of his men gathered around her, looking for answers. The questions were all came at once. _What were they going to do? How could they possibly win this? Did the appearance of these two demons mean that Angel and the others had failed? _Willow had no answers for them.

But she needed answers, and soon, as the hotel began to shake with the approach of the demons.

* * *

The footsteps were very near indeed when Cordy arrived back in the dungeon. Right outside the door, in fact…

She ran across the cold, stone floor to Angel, and had just grabbed his hand when the door blew off its hinges and clattered against the far wall. The Hart strode into the room.

"You will not escape this time," It told her, drawing its sword back like a spear.

"Wanna bet?" Cordelia replied with more confidence than she felt. She squeezed her eyes shut in concentration, holding Angel's hand tightly, not seeing the blade as it flew towards her.

There was a loud clanging sound of metal hitting stone as the sword ricocheted off the wall of the dungeon and fell to the ground.

The Hart let out a yell of frustration. They were gone.

* * *

They were just placing Connor in the back of the van when another flash of light announced Cordelia's return. Faith and two other slayers ran out to meet her.

"Oh god," Faith gasped, seeing the unconscious vampire in Cordy's arms. "Angel! What happened?"

"The whole thing was a trap," Cordy replied, as she allowed two of the slayers to take Angel's weight from her arms. "It's some kind of spell, designed to make the Senior Partners corporeal in our dimension."

"Damn!" Faith spat.

"We need to get them back to Willow," Cordelia explained. "I don't know how to wake them up."

"What are we waiting for then?"

They hurried back to the van and had just put Angel inside when they heard a low boom, followed by a high-pitched whistling sound.

"What the…"

An explosion rocked the forest around them as the cannonball detonated only feet from them, blowing both Faith and Cordy to the ground. They were just scrambling back to their feet when they heard a second boom.

"Start the van!" Faith yelled, helping Cordy into the back before hoping in herself. Tires screeched as the van started moving. A second later, the vehicle shook as another cannonball exploded in the spot where they'd been parked.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Faith yelled to Giles in the driver's seat.

Giles sped through the forest, swerving to avoid trees and, subsequently, a third and a fourth cannonball, before they were out of range of the fortress and in relative safety.

"We need to get back to the portal site and home," Cordelia told them. "Buffy and the others are in serious danger."

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	29. The Art of Escapology

**Thanks to everyone that reviewed! -blows kisses -**

**Chapter Twenty Nine - The Art of Escapology**

* * *

The streets were deserted – a veritable ghost town, scarred by battle, desolate and uninviting. They cruised slowly down the street, headlights off, hoping for their presence to go undetected for as long as possible.

Giles pulled over a block and a half away from the hotel and looked towards the back of the van.

"Faith?"

"I'll go check it out."

Stealthily, she slipped out of the van and ran down the street, keeping to the shadows. In less than two minutes, she had returned.

"There are a crowd of demons outside the hotel, but I can't see our people."

"Did you see _anything_?" Giles asked, worried. "Anything that might suggest what has happened?"

"Corpses," Faith replied. "All I saw were lots and lots of corpses."

"They're still alive," Cordelia announced. Faith was about to ask how she could possibly know when she saw the seer's eyes. They were gleaming white as the vision came to her.

"They're inside the hotel – the ballroom," she continued. "We have to get them out. They don't have much time."

"How?" Faith asked. "There are a hell of a lot of demons between us and them. Not to mention, two unstoppable Senior Partners, if what you've told us is right. I like stiff odds as much as the next girl, but…"

Cordy cut her off. "Giles? Take the next left."

"Where are we going?" the Watcher asked.

"If we can't get them out by the front door, we'll get them out the back," was her only, cryptic, reply.

* * *

The doors shook violently again. It was only a matter of time before the powerful demons punched their way through the force-field. And then they'd all be sitting ducks.

Buffy was still unconscious. Kennedy was dead. Faith was in another dimension somewhere. Willow swallowed hard as she realized it was now up to her to take charge.

"Okay, listen up!" she announced in a voice filled with confidence she didn't really feel. "We have maybe 20 minutes before they punch their way in here. And I somehow can't see the cavalry riding in to save us. So, it's up to us."

There was a murmur throughout the room – a defeated, frightened clamoring that didn't bode well.

"Look! I'm not going to lie to you. We might very well die today. There's a hell of a lot of demons still out there and we're cornered."

"Don't sugar coat it or nothin'," Rondell remarked.

"Sorry, but I don't have time to mother you right now," the red-head snapped back. "But here's the thing. You are all warriors. And together, we can face this."

The response she received made it clear that they didn't feel very much like warriors right now. They were tired. Each and every one of them had witnessed their friends die horrible deaths. And now, against these new, even more frightening odds, they had never felt further from being warriors in their lives.

"Slayers – this is your birthright. You are the _chosen ones_," Willow insisted. "And the rest of you; you are these unique individuals - demon or human - who've chosen to stand up against the forces of evil and drive them back.

"This was never going to be an easy battle. We all knew what was at stake going into this. And right now things aren't going our way, but we can't use that as an excuse to just give up. We are not going to die cowering in a corner! If we're going to die, we're going to go down fighting. Like all the other slayers who came before you. Like our friends that were lost today." She glanced at the unconscious slayer, still being tended to by Spike. "Like Buffy."

The murmur rose again, but it was more confident this time – resigned, perhaps, but once more ready and willing to fight.

Xander and Dawn stationed themselves at Willow's side. "What do you want us to do?"

"Move the injured to the far side of the room. Then make sure everyone's armed," she instructed. "Xander, do we have any grenades or rockets left?"

"Some," he replied. "We're down to one rocket launcher, though."

She nodded. "Get ready."

* * *

The van pulled over once more, this time outside a bus depot, a few blocks south of the Hyperion.

"There's the sewer entrance. There," Cordelia told them, pointing it out. "Get it opened and sent a squad down to make sure it's clear. About three blocks north, there's a ladder that takes you up into the basement of the hotel. I can get them to it from the ballroom."

"What if you can't?" Faith wanted to know.

Cordelia didn't have an answer to that. If they couldn't, then they'd simply have to find another way. But, for the life of her, Cordy couldn't think what that way might be.

"Giles, the rest of you secure transportation. If my vision is right, there are still around one hundred and fifty of our people left."

Giles raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Yes, wait one moment while I charter a train."

"How about a couple of buses," she replied, the sarcasm in her voice reminding him forcefully of the old Cordelia, as she nodded towards the bus depot across the street. "It's not like anyone else is using them right now. The city's deserted."

The Englishman cleared his throat, somewhat embarrassed. "Uh… right. Good thinking."

"Let's do it," Faith said.

* * *

A crack was appearing in the ballroom's once grand doors. A tiny fissure, but one that would grow in minutes. One that would spell their end.

The door buckled again, as though a tremendous force was pressing against it. The crack grew by another inch and the slayers watching it braced the weapons in their hands. Any moment now.

As the door rattled yet again, Willow took a breath and held her hand, palm up, outstretched towards it. Muttering an incantation, an invisible force braced the door. As long as her energy held, so would the door.

But neither would hold for long.

A throat cleared behind them and Willow was startled to here Cordelia Chase's voice calling out to her.

"Need some help?"

So tense was the atmosphere in the room that several slayers pointed their weapons at the newly appeared seer. She merely rolled her eyes.

"You want to call off your bodyguards, Will? We don't have a whole lot of time here."

"How do we know it's really you?" Willow asked, her hand still magically bracing the door, but her eyes now trained on the brunette. "You might be dead and the First is back, doing its best Queen C impersonation."

Cordy sighed. "Ask me something, then. Something only the real Cordelia would know."

Willow thought for a moment, but Xander got in there first.

"Where was the worst place we ever made out in High School?" he challenged her.

She raised an eyebrow. "You mean apart from the first time in Buffy's basement, with creepy Bug Boy trying to get in?" she quipped. "It's got to be the janitor's closet nearest the library. That place totally smelt like feet. And tuna fish. A feet and tuna fish sandwich."

Xander smirked at the memory. "It's her."

Willow sighed in relief. "Cordy, how did you get in here?"

"What? You mean you _don't_ have any of _my _powers?" Cordelia replied. "Look, we need to get everyone out of here. There's a ladder leading to the sewer tunnels from the basement. Behind the stage in here, there's a trap door leading down to the basement."

Xander looked wary. "What if the demons are in the basement?"

Cordy shook her head. "They're not. I teleported in there on my way here to make sure the coast was clear. But we need to do this quickly and quietly, before they do decide to go down there for a lookie-loo. There are a group of slayers on their way up the tunnel as we speak. They'll meet you and take you to Faith and the others."

She glanced over to the witch, who was beginning to tire with the strain of holding the doors shut. "Willow and I will hold them off for as long as we can."

Xander began to mobilize everyone. "Okay, you heard the lady. Quickly and quietly. Help the injured out of here first. Spike? You look after Buffy?"

"Always do," the blond vampire replied, lifting the unconscious woman into his arms as though she weighed nothing and heading towards the trapdoor Cordelia had pointed out.

Cordy went to Willow's side and held up her hands, mimicking the witch's actions. The door, which had begun to buckle once more, strengthened immediately.

"Thanks," Willow said with a smile.

Ten minutes later, the room was empty, except for the red head and the brunette. They had given their people the best head-start they could and were beginning to tire with the effort of holding back the demons.

Willow looked at Cordelia, the tiny beads of perspiration on her forehead the only real indicator of the effort she was putting in. "Can you hold this alone for a couple of seconds? I want to disguise the trapdoor with a glamour, so the demons can't follow us so quickly."

Cordy nodded. "Be quick."

Willow took her hand away and ran towards the stage. Immediately, the door began to buckle, and it was all Cordy could do to stop it opening altogether.

She heard Willow mutter something and then she was back at her side, helping with the door again.

"All done?"

"Yeah," Willow nodded. "Let's get out of here."

Simultaneously, they lowered their hands and the door, no longer held closed by magic, sprang open. The Wolf and the Ram snarled, then froze in confusion. _Two people? Where had everyone gone?_

Before they could finish processing the situation, much less attack, Cordelia waved sarcastically at them and both she and Willow had teleported out.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	30. Grief

**Thanks to everyone for their continued support.**

**CHAPTER THIRTY - GRIEF**

* * *

The last of the injured were being loaded onto the buses when Cordy and Willow arrived. Giles and Faith immediately approached them.

"So, what's the plan now?" Faith wanted to know.

"We need to figure out a way to wake Angel and Connor up," Cordelia replied. "Somehow reverse the spell the Senior Partners have on them."

Willow looked at Giles. "Is there a way to do that?"

The Watcher removed his glasses, looking perplexed. "Well… if I had the proper resources. The relevant texts – then _perhaps I could find out_. But all our books are in the Hotel."

"Well, isn't there another fully comprehensive occult reference library we can go hang out at?" Xander asked hopefully. At the sight of so many pairs of eyes rolling at him he shrugged. "What? It's LA."

"Unless we're planning on infiltrating the Wolfram & Hart building, I don't think we're going to find a library that can help us," Cordy commented, feeling defeated.

"Not necessarily," Spike cut in, coming from the back of the van. "Lawyers aren't the only ones who like some light bedtime reading. This bloke Angel sent Wesley after – a wizard named Vail. Wes was practically wetting himself about the library this bloke was reputed to have."

Giles frowned. "Do you know the way?"

Spike shrugged as he lit a cigarette. "It's in the hills," he remarked, nodding towards the Hollywood sign. "I can find it."

"Good," Willow replied, starting to look anxious. "Let's get moving before we lose what little head start we have."

* * *

Vail's compound was eerily silent as they drove through the imposing gates and up to the house. Quietly, Faith gave several groups of slayers orders to comb the grounds for signs of the enemy, while she organized the rest to help the injured inside. Cordelia, Willow, Giles and Spike went ahead, to ensure the house was truly empty.

The stench of death was thick and cloying as the entered the palatial house. The first body they found was a butler, judging by his clothes, his cause of death undoubtedly the dagger protruding from his chest. Cordelia's heart constricted as she recognized the weapon as one that Wesley had favored – it had been a gift from Angel.

They made their way forward and spotted a second body - a frail old man by appearances, hooked up to an IV, but one that still seemed to radiate an aura of power, even in death. The wizard Cyvus Vail's head was now just a bloody pulp, apparently smashed in by a single blow.

A noise drew their attention further inside the room. Another body. And a figure crouched over him. It looked like…

"Fred?" Cordelia whispered, not believing her eyes.

The figure's hair turned blue, then back to brown again, her image transmuting back and forth every few seconds, as though the magic of creating one identity was draining on the other.

"Illyria," Spike corrected her, moving forward.

Illyria didn't acknowledge their presence. She just continued to crouch over Wesley's body, his head cradled in her lap.

"Where you been, blue?" Spike asked her in a quiet voice, low so as not to startle her. "There was a fight we could've used you in."

Cordelia came up behind Spike, tears springing up in her eyes at the sight of her decomposing friend.

"Fred… Illyria…" she said. "We should bury him. Wesley… he deserves a proper burial."

"I don't understand," Illyria finally spoke. "I don't understand why I mourn. He was a lowly mortal. But I… miss him."

Spike put his hands on her shoulders and gently drew her away. "Come on, blue. He's gone. No more to be done here."

* * *

They buried Vail and his butler in a pit at the bottom of the garden, and gathered round a grave dug beneath a birch tree to say goodbye to Wesley. Rondell insisted on filling in Wesley's grave himself, the final mark of respect towards the man that had saved his life several years before. And, as he said quietly, it was something that Gunn would have wanted him to do.

The rest of them went back inside and Giles, Dawn and Xander immediately set to work in Vail's vast library, looking for any information that could help them.

Willow, Cordelia and Spike went in to check on the three, still unconscious members of their group. Illyria, perhaps drawn to Spike through familiarity, followed close behind.

There was no change – not that they had expected any. Cordy knelt down by Angel's side and took his hand, as though hoping her presence would somehow tether him to this world and prevent him from slipping away.

Willow felt like she was intruding on such a private moment. She dragged her eyes away and rested them upon the blue-haired woman.

"Illyria?" she asked timidly, partly afraid and partly in awe of the power emanating off the figure before her. "What happened? After the battle last month, I mean."

"I saw the one they called Gunn and the white-haired vampire…" She paused and looked at Spike. "_You_ – perish. I tried to go to Angel's assistance but he disappeared. I do not know where they took him.

"I destroyed many more demons but the battle did not bring me pleasure. It did not quench this… anguish I felt. And so I left and returned here. To him."

"You stayed with him? All this time?" Cordy asked.

"Yes."

Cordelia felt her throat constrict. In a way, it seemed right, Fred staying with Wesley's body – mourning him as he had her. But this, she kept having to tell herself, was not Fred, no matter how much she might look like her…

She pushed all that to the back of her mind as her gaze drifted onto Angel's lifeless body again. No, there would be time to mourn properly, for Wesley, Fred and Gunn – later. Now, they needed to figure out what to do.

"Will, how are we going to wake them up?"

Willow looked helpless. She shook her head, at a loss for answers as she looked from Connor to Angel, finally dropping her gaze onto Buffy.

"I'm hoping Buffy just has a bad concussion," she began. "If that's why she's… if it isn't something else, then I have a good chance of waking her up. But – Angel and Connor? I just don't know."

"You've never seen anything like this?"

"Red? What about when Buffy went into that trance a while back?" Spike remarked, looking at the witch intently. "That spell thing you did then? Would that work here?"

Again, Willow looked uncertain. "I – I don't know. Buffy went into that trance because it all became too much for her, when Glory kidnapped Dawn. It was… stress related, I guess. This? This is more… mystical…"

Cordelia, however, was ready to grasp at the slightest hope. "But it _might_ work?"

"It _might_…" Willow answered cautiously.

That was good enough for the brunette. "Okay. Let's try it. What do I have to do?"

* * *

The preparations did not take long. While this had been one of the most complicated pieces of magic Willow had ever attempted, it was also one of the most simple by all outward appearances. Lighting a few candles in the room, the witch directed Cordelia to sit near Angel, facing his unmoving form.

"There's no incantation," she told her. "No potions. You just have to _will_ yourself into his psyche. That's why it's so difficult to do. It takes a lot of concentration."

Cordelia nodded, taking the words on board. "Then what?"

"You might find Angel trapped into repeating a pattern of behavior," Willow continued. "You have to get him to stop. Convince him to break the pattern and wake up."

"Sounds simple."

"It won't be." Willow did her best to remove any sign of doubt from her expression, and gave Cordy a supportive smile.

Cordelia closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as she could. Her brow furrowed as she strained to make the spell work. Despite herself, Willow chuckled, which earned her a disgruntled look from the Seer.

"You're trying too hard," she told her. "Relax. Connect with his mind. Don't force it."

Cordelia closed her eyes and tried again. After several minutes of frowning and straining, her face finally began to relax. Then Willow sensed a peacefulness pass over Cordy and she knew it had worked.

Satisfied that everything possible was now being done for Angel, she turned her attention towards Buffy.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	31. The Way We Weren't

**Chapter Thirty-One - The Way We Weren't**

* * *

"This Vail guy was one seriously creepy guy," Xander remarked, flipping through another dusty tomb. "This stuff makes the books in the Restricted Section at Hogwarts look like the Dr Seuss collection."

Not quite getting the pop culture references that had been flying thick and fast from both Dawn and Xander for the past half an hour, Giles frowned and turned the page in the book he was perusing.

"He clearly had access to very powerful magicks," he remarked, leaning in closer to read a passage in particularly small type. "There are spells to kill from a distance, spells to prolong life."

"Ooh, does it mention Horcruxes?" Dawn wanted to know, her eyes wide.

The watcher glared at her over the top of his glasses. "Perhaps if you spent more time reading actual magical texts and less time reading _Harry Potter_, I might have some clue as to what you're talking about."

"Ah, but you know I was talking about _Harry Potter_, Giles, so at least we're making progress," she replied with a cheeky grin.

He suppressed a chuckle. "Better that than _Star Wars_, I suppose," he admitted. "If I had to listen to Andrew rabbiting on about that bloody…" He stopped himself short at the fallen expression on Dawn's face and it suddenly struck him – he would never hear Andrew rabbit on about anything again. He was gone.

In mere seconds, any joviality that had temporarily settled over them fled the room, and the harsh reality set in. They had lost so much – in just one day. So many people they had considered friends, or at the very least comrades-in-arms, were gone.

They were much more somber as they went back to their research. It was a while before anyone spoke again.

"Giles?" Dawn said quietly. "Do you think…?"

"She'll be just fine," he replied, knowing the young girl was referring to Buffy. "Willow will look after her."

* * *

"How're they doing?" Faith asked as she entered the make-shift hospital ward. She glanced from Angel to Cordelia, who seemed to be in some kind of trance, and then down to Buffy. 

Willow, hard at work with a pestle and mortar, looked up and gave the slayer a strained smile.

"No change. Yet."

Faith crouched down at Buffy's side to check on her, but was side-tracked by the contents of the small bowl in Willow's hand.

"What the hell is that smell?"

"It's a poultice," the witch explained. "I raided the cupboards here and found a lot of magical supplies. It should help with the swelling and the concussion."

"And if it doesn't?"

Willow wasn't prepared to be that pessimistic yet. "I'm planning on helping it along."

Gently, she applied the foul-smelling, green concoction to the wound on Buffy's head, before placing a damp cloth on top of it. Wiping her hands, she held out one to Faith.

"Take my hand."

"Gee, Will, I like you and all, but I'm not sure we're at the 'holding hands' stage yet."

"Ha Ha," Willow shot back, gesturing for Faith to take her proffered hand. "And hold one of Buffy's hands too. I'm going to channel some of my energy into her, but it wouldn't hurt to add a little slayer strength to the mix."

Looking skeptical, Faith finally did as she was asked.

"Now, close your eyes," Willow told her, as she began to work her magic.

* * *

The room she found herself in looked so familiar, but it took Cordy a moment to remember where she was. And when realization did hit, she closed her eyes and sighed sadly. 

_Here they were again…_

It was your typical suburban house in any American city. Comfortable, bright, airy – most likely complete with a lawn and a white picket fence outside. It was the stuff the American dream was made of.

Or, in this case, a nightmare…

When she opened her eyes again, she noticed that things were different this time. Angel wasn't part of the happy family living out their lives in this slice of suburban paradise. Instead, she saw him skulking in the shadows, watching as the scene played out.

She saw herself, curled up on the couch, her head resting on a man's lap, as his fingers contentedly stroked her hair. It was a peaceful scene – restful and sweet – but for one small problem. It was so very wrong.

She watched herself sit up and brush her lips over the man's – a familiar and loving gesture that soon became more passionate. As the man pulled her doppelganger onto his lap and ran his fingers up her spine, she was forced to look away. But she couldn't shut her ears to the sound of her own voice.

"I love you, Connor…"

Looking back towards Angel, she saw he was transfixed, his gaze locked on the kissing couple as though in a trance. He had not seemed to have noticed her arrival all. But then, neither had the others.

"Angel?"

He didn't react, but as she moved closer, she spotted what looked like tears gleaming in his eyes.

"Angel, this isn't real."

There was still no response, save for the silent anguish that was coming off him in waves.

She reached out and grabbed him by the shirt, trying to drag his gaze away from the horrific sight before him. He jerked away, trying to free himself. He didn't look at her, but his hands grabbed hers and held them away from his body.

She took it as a positive sign. At least he knew, on some level, that she was there.

"Angel. Look at me!"

She struggled to get her hands free, but his grip was too tight. Finally, she pushed forward with all her weight, succeeding in pushing him against the wall. In surprise he let go of her hands and she took the opportunity to grab his face and pull it toward her.

"Look at me, damn it!"

His eyes were so dark and full of pain when they finally met hers, that she almost wished he would look away again. Then she saw the confusion there and realized that he was starting to snap out of it.

"Cordy?"

"Yeah," she replied with relief. "It's me."

"But I…" his head turned, his eyes returning to the other Cordy and Connor on the couch, but she grabbed his face and turned it back towards her own.

"That isn't real, Angel," she insisted. "That isn't me. That isn't Connor. It all just some sort of bad dream."

"No."

She was incredulous. "No?"

He shrugged sadly. "It's just the way things were meant to be."

And with that, he turned and walked away.

* * *

It was the oddest sensation – similar perhaps to floating in an isolation tank (not that she'd ever done that before, but it looked cool when she saw them on TV). She felt completely disconnected from her body, simply drifting with no sense of time or space. 

The voices had started intruding a while ago – how long, she couldn't be sure, as that would require a greater sense of awareness. But she could hear them – somewhere very far away – muffled as though she were hearing them from underwater.

The first concrete sensation she got was in her hand. Her hand which she hadn't felt or even knew was still there suddenly had a tingling sensation in it. The feeling spread, up her arm and into her body until, finally, she was an actual solid body and not an abstraction.

That was when the pain started…

Her head throbbed – the last time she felt this kind of pain in her skull was when she drank far too much whiskey with Spike one time. And there was something else. It didn't register at first but, as her brain slowly began to focus, she realized what it was.

There was a seriously funky smell coming from somewhere.

It was the smell, more than anything else, which prompted her to open her eyes.

Willow's smiling face beamed down at her.

"Hey there, sleepy-head."

* * *

"Angel! Wait!" 

She ran down the stairs behind him and pulled up short when their surroundings registered with her.

They were back in the Hyperion.

The sound of laughter rose from the lobby, and Cordy hurried down the rest of the stairs to see who it was coming from.

"Would you quit staring at me – I'm trying to get some work done."

"I can't help it. You just get more beautiful by the second. I'm afraid if I look away, I might miss it."

Her breath caught in her throat. Right there in front of her, as though nothing had changed…

"Wesley!"

"I'm sorry, Fred, but I'm afraid you're just going to have to get used to it."

She giggled again and got up from the desk, crossing the room to the Englishman.

"I'm never going to get this paper written with you around, am I?" she teased.

"Unlikely," he replied, meeting her approach with a kiss.

Tears formed in Cordy's eyes as she watched them. She looked away and found Angel, back in the shadows but this time with a contented look upon his face. As she walked towards him, she heard the door open.

"Yo, English. I just got a beat on another nest. Time to saddle up."

Wesley and Fred stopped kissing, their annoyance at being interrupted well hidden beneath their exhilaration at another job coming in. This was what Cordy liked to remember most about the old days – not the pain or the loss, but how downright excited they could be about fighting demons.

"We should call Cordy and Connor in on this," Wesley suggested.

Gunn nodded. "I already called them. They should be here any minute."

Turning her back on the scene, Cordy went to Angel.

"Angel, we have to go," she said gently.

When he didn't reply, she reached out and placed a hand on his arm.

"This is how it should have been," he finally told her. "Now, they're getting a second chance."

She shook her head. "No. They're not. This isn't really happening."

He wasn't listening. "This makes more sense. My life, for all of theirs… it's the way it always should have been."

"But it isn't the way things are, Angel," she insisted. "This is just a trick. If you don't snap out of it soon, everyone's going to die. And their deaths -" she gestured towards Fred, Wesley and Gunn – "will have been for nothing."

The door opened again and a smiling Cordelia-clone and Connor entered, holding hands.

"Look how happy they are," Angel said, his sincerity sounding as though it were being forced past a lump in his throat.

The dreamily detached vampire was starting to grate on Cordy's last nerve. They were running out of time and he was content to play _It's a Wonderful Life_ in reverse. It was time to snap him out of it.

"Angel!"

He suddenly turned on her, grabbing her by the shoulders forcefully and slamming her against the wall.

"Who are you?" he snarled.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	32. Deep Down

**Author's Note**: I had the most horrible writer's block over this chapter. I wrote half of it 6 weeks ago and then nothing more would come. Painful. Sorry for the delay. I'm off on holiday tomorrow, so hopefully the break will allow me to clear my mind and start writing again more successfully (and more frequently) when I return.

Thanks to everyone who continues to support this story. The end is nigh, I swear. I see light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully it isn't a train...

A chunk of this chapter is based closely on Angel's fantasy/nightmare in season 4's "Deep Down" (written by Steven S. DeKnight)

No Infringement intended.

* * *

"Can you sit up?" 

Carefully, Willow helped Buffy into a sitting position, regretting it almost immediately when the slayer winced and clutched at her head with one hand.

"Maybe you should lie back down."

"No. No, I'm good." Buffy blinked a couple of times, trying to clear her vision. "As good as a person gets with concussion. What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Faith asked her.

"Big demons."

Faith shrugged. "That's pretty much what happened," she replied. "One of them hit you with some kind of energy bolt."

"We thought we lost you," Willow added in a quiet voice.

Something caught Buffy's eye and she turned her head quickly, causing another dizzy spell. When it passed, she frowned at the sight of Angel, Cordelia and Connor.

"They're back. What happened?"

Willow and Faith exchanged a look. The story was long and involved and Buffy still had a concussion. Buffy, however, was having none of their mollycoddling.

"Tell me what's going on!"

* * *

"Angel! It's me. Cordelia." 

His grip tightened on her arms and she cried out from the pain.

"Angel, you're hurting me!"

"Who are you?" he snarled again.

"It told you. I'm Cordy!" she insisted.

He jerked his head over his shoulder. "_That's_ Cordelia."

"No! _That_ is a figment of your imagination. The Senior Partners are controlling your mind, in some kind of hypnotic dream."

"No!"

He forcefully let her go and moved away just as quickly as he lunged at her. Still in shock, Cordy rubbed her shoulder. That would leave a bruise…

He was back in the shadows again. Watching. Detached. He reminded her so much of when she first came to LA and started to work for him. He always set himself apart from the rest of the world, afraid to join in, permanently skulking in the shadows.

She had spent so long trying to bring him out of himself. Make him interact with the people around him. Make him connect. And, eventually, he truly had – building up a family around him in the process. But now…

Now, he was right back where he started.

"Angel…"

"Leave me alone."

With a final look at the happy group of friends before him, he turned and walked towards the front door of the hotel.

"Damn. Where's he going now?" Cordy muttered to herself as she followed. "What the…"

Instead of the familiar street she expected to see, she found herself on a cliff top. Far below, she could hear the ocean lapping against the beach and smell the salt in the air. A sign told her what she already knew. They were at Point Dume.

* * *

"Your heart longs for her, though it no longer beats." 

Angling it just right, Spike skimmed another rock across the pond. It hit the top of the still water three times before sinking out of sight, leaving only ripples in its wake.

"You love her."

"Yeah," he replied, not particularly willing to engage in conversation with the woman at his side – not on this topic, in any case. He was too busy worrying about Buffy, wondering how Willow was progressing in her attempt to wake her up.

"Why?"

He turned to shoot Illyria a bewildered look. "Why what?"

"Why do you love her?" she elaborated. "She is a Slayer. A vampire's natural enemy. It is not logical for you to feel anything but animosity towards her."

"Logic has nothing to do with love," he informed her, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his duster. "In fact, love is the complete opposite of logic."

"I do not understand."

He looked her up and down. "No. You don't, do you."

He walked to a nearby tree, leant up against it and lit a cigarette. The very act brought back a flood of memories – the days, weeks, perhaps even months on end he spent beneath a tree in Buffy's garden in Sunnydale, watching her, wanting for her, dreaming about her.

It was obsession. Lust. Desire. Even need. But it wasn't love. Not really. Not until after he got his soul back. That was something he didn't realize back then – too wrapped up in his delusions and romantic notions of what love was.

"It'll be dawn soon," he remarked. He hoped his evasiveness would dissuade Illyria from pursuing an answer to her question, but she'd followed him to the tree and now stood, arms at her side, watching him, waiting for that answer.

"Love isn't something that can be explained in logical terms," he told her finally. "I could explain that I love Buffy for her strength, for her passion, because of how she always does her best and because she never gives up. I could tell you that she's the best woman I've even known and she fills me with such… hope, that I can't help but love her. All of that would be true, but it wouldn't come close to explaining why."

He took a long drag before dropping the cigarette on the grass and crushing it under his foot.

"She's such a part of me now that I don't know where she ends and I begin," he went on quietly, almost talking to himself now as he stared across the lawn towards the large house. "And if she doesn't wake up…"

He left the though unfinished as he set off across the garden, suddenly desperate to check on her.

* * *

"Cordelia. I didn't think you were coming." 

Cordy started at the sound of her name, but soon realized that he wasn't addressing her. Another Cordy – one wearing a white outfit she remembered all too well and sporting a short, blonde haircut that she cringed at with hindsight – was approaching him.

"You know me better than that," she replied. "Better than anybody."

Angel laughed lightly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I don't know if that's true."

"Yes. You do."

The location was right. The outfit was right. There was just one little problem. She had never made it to their meeting that night – she'd been intercepted by her bogus demon guide and ascended as a higher being. _Another delusion courtesy of the Senior Partners_, Cordy thought to herself.

The fake Cordelia slowly walked to the edge of the cliff and glanced across at the view in to moonlight.

"It's so beautiful here."

He was watching her intently. "Yes. Yes, it is," he replied. "Just the way it should be."

He looked distracted for a moment. Then he frowned. "But it's not. This isn't how it happened."

"I know," she replied. "I like this version better."

"It was Connor. He was here. He..."

She touched his face, stopping him mid-sentence. "I can't remember what it was like - not knowing you, not being close to you. I'm in love with you Angel. Deep down I think I have been for a long time. I needed you to know that."

It killed Cordelia – the real one – to watch this scene play out. These were the words _she_ should be saying to him. The words she _should have said._ If only Skip hadn't intercepted her on her way here that night. If only she hadn't been so stupid as to believe him. If only…

Her breath hitched in her throat as Angel drew her doppelganger into a kiss. After a moment, he pulled back to look at her again.

"I need you, Cordy. I need you."

As he began to kiss the imposter's neck, a single tear ran down Cordy's face. It was too painful to watch. _There had to be something she could do_ – something to snap him out of his daze, out of this delusion. She'd do _anything_, she swore internally, anything to bring back the real Angel, the man she loved.

Another tear escaped her eyes and as she raised a hand to brush it away, she saw Angel look up. His eyes connected with hers for the briefest of moments. And then, to her horror, he vamped out and plunged his fangs into the other Cordelia's neck.

Both women gasped simultaneously. Cordy could feel his fangs in her, even as she watched him drink from the other woman in front of her. Reaching up to grasp her neck, she pulled her fingers away, sticky with her own blood.

Angel stopped feeding and began to sob. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

The other Cordelia was gone. _That's strange_, she thought, as she collapsed to the ground.

* * *

"Buffy!" Dawn squealed with delight as she dashed to embrace her sister. 

The Slayer groaned as the younger but significantly taller girl grabbed her into a fierce bear hug.

"Easy Dawny," she half-heartedly complained.

"Buffy," Giles exclaimed, utter relief in his voice. "How are you?"

"Bruised. Battered. But itching to get back in the fight. How's the research coming along?"

"It's been productive. The resources here are… impressive."

"Giles is suffering from 'book envy'," Xander remarked. "It's kinda like 'penis envy' but, you know - geekier."

His one good eye twinkled, but behind his smirk, Buffy saw his concern for her.She moved to sit down beside him, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze along the way.

Still stationed by the door, Faith now spoke up. "So, have you figured out a way to stop those ubër-demons?"

"Not as such," Giles replied with no small measure of disappointment in his voice. "But we did find something of significance – there's another prophecy. Much more detailed than the one we originally had access to."

"What does it say?" Willow asked.

"I haven't fully translated it as yet, but it appears that there were many stages on the way to the battle we're now fighting. A checklist, if you like, that should have been completed before the Senior Partners attempted their ascension back to earth."

"Did they miss anything on that list that might help us?" Buffy wanted to know.

The Watcher nodded. "As a matter of fact. Something significant that could well be of use to us. The entire Slayer line was supposed to have been wiped out before the final raising took place."

Everyone took a moment to absorb this.

"So that was what the First was up to last year," Buffy finally remarked.

"Clearly, the slayers are a threat to the Senior Partners," Giles told them. "Which means there is still hope that we can beat them."

* * *

"Cordy? Oh, god, Cordy!" 

He could taste her blood on his lips as she collapsed to the ground. It pulsed through his undead body, snapping him to his senses. The veil lifted, breaking whatever trance he'd been in. And now all he could do was pray he was dreaming.

He sped to her side and cradled her in his arms. _What had he done? What had he done?_

"Cordy. Open your eyes," he urged her desperately. "Please, Cor. Please."

Her eyes opened to slits, hazily focusing on his tear-stained face.

"Angel," she whispered, her small, cold hand reaching for his. He clasped it in his own, clinging to it in the hope of preventing her from slipping away from him.

Her eyes closed again, her breathing becoming shallow.

"No!" he cried out. "Cordy! Don't do this!"

* * *

Back in the home of Cyvus Vail, blood slowly trickled down Cordelia's neck as her body collapsed forward. With the last of her strength, her empty hand closed around Connor's.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	33. Enjoin

**Author's Note: **The end is nigh, the end is nigh! Unless things radically change during the writing process, there looks to be maybe only 2 chapters (3 tops) and the epilogue left to go. We are very near the end. Thanks to everyone who's stuck it out so far - this has been well over a year in the making and, quite frankly, was never meant to be quite this long, but it somehow took on a life of its own. I hope you can stick it out a little longer, because we're now on the home stretch.

* * *

Spike was convinced he was imagining things when he heard her voice drift towards him down the hallway. His brow knit into a frown – surely someone would have told him if… 

He sped up and swung open the library door. Buffy was back in the thick of things, leading the conversation:

"So, why did they want us out of the way, specifically?" she was asking. "Are we able to stop them, or…"

"Slayer!" he interrupted. "Little tip for you. _Tell_ a bloke when you wake up from a coma. It's only polite."

"Spike."

Her irritated expression did little to hide the grin on her face at the sight of him. But that didn't mean she couldn't give him a hard time.

"In case you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of a war meeting here. I don't have time to baby-sit, so…" she teased. "Maybe you could – oh, I don't know – help?"

He scowled, but there was a glint in his eye.

"You're the boss," he told her as he sat in the vacant chair to her right. "What's the plan?"

"Well, at the moment we're trying to figure out why the Senior Partners sent the First to wipe out the Slayer line last year," Willow informed him. "Apart from making it a heck of a lot easier for evil to thrive with no slayers in the world."

"And don't forget the scary, scary uber-vamps they would have added to their army if we hadn't stopped them," Dawn added.

Giles sat forward, regarding Spike curiously. "I don't suppose you heard anything about this during your – uh – brief tenure with the Powers that Be?"

"I'm not exactly 'in the know' Rupert," the vampire replied. "I'm on a strict 'need to know' diet with the Powers – and by the looks of things, they don't seem to think I need to know very much at all."

"Spike knowing nothing – something's never change," Xander remarked, with a grin to Willow and Dawn.

"Alright children, enough," Buffy told them. "Let's figure this out. The clock is ticking."

Faith shifted forward, finally joining the conversation. "Thing I don't get is what threat we could be to these guys," she said. "They cut through us like butter. If we hadn't left when we did…" She left the statement hanging, knowing it was unnecessary to fill in the blanks.

"They're not your garden variety vamps or demons," Buffy agreed. "I can't figure it out either. It's not like any one of us can take them down."

"Maybe not individually," Spike interjected, half-kidding. "But maybe if you all channel your power together…"

All eyes in the room were regarding him with different levels of interest and inspiration and surprise.

"What? What did I say?"

* * *

Angel clamped his hand to the side of Cordy's neck in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood. All the while knowing just how much he'd already drank – hoping it wasn't too much. 

He continued to call her name, with increasing desperation. Looking around for help, he realized for the first time that they were no longer on the cliff. There were in what appeared to be a small, dark cave.

And his son was looking straight at him.

"Connor?" he asked, nonplussed. "What – Where are we?"

Connor looked just as shocked as his father – clearly taken aback by the sudden appearance of two people in his hiding space.

"Connor?" Angel tried again when the young man made no effort to answer him. "What's going on? Talk to me."

Connor's look of surprise changed to one of suspicion. With narrowed eyes, he regarded Angel, sizing him up like a potential opponent.

"Why are you calling me Connor?" he finally asked. "My name is Stephen."

* * *

"It _might_ work. I'd need time to prepare – to modify the spell…" 

They'd talked in circles – the solution, unwittingly suggested by Spike, splitting them down the middle. Giles urged caution, Buffy was worried about it affects on Willow, given the newest loss in her life, while the young witch was uncharacteristically enthusiastic about such a dangerous course of action.

"It won't exactly be a piece of cake, but I really think it's doable," she insisted.

"Will, do you remember what happened the last time?" Buffy asked. "We stirred up some pretty heavy mojo and were hunted in our sleep. And given… what's just happened… are you sure you'd be up for it?"

Kennedy's name hung unspoken but heavy in the air. Willow glared at her friend.

"I'm perfectly capable, Buffy. I'm not catatonic or unable to think clearly. And I'm _not_ going to get dark roots just by doing the enjoining spell. You of all people should know I've moved passed that."

Buffy said nothing, ashamed that she doubted her friend, but still concerned. Accepting that Willow would not be dissuaded from her plan, Giles decided to go with it and reason out the best course of action.

"It will be quite a bit more complex than the original enjoining spell," he remarked. "Have you thought how you might go about it?"

Willow considered it for a moment. "We could combine it with elements from the spell I did last year, to make all the potentials become Slayers," she suggested. "Only, you know, in reverse. I'll need to do some research. Hopefully something in here will help."

"And do Buffy and I duke it out to see which one you work your mojo on, Will?" Faith asked with a smirk. "Cuz, I think I could take her right now."

"In your dreams," Buffy shot back.

Willow shook her head. "There are two demons. I think it should be both of you."

* * *

The Senior Partner who bore the Ram's head was in a fury. Flailing about, enraged, he ripped the heads off several lesser demons before his associate, the Wolf, stepped in. 

"The One with the sight has intervened!" the Ram fumed. "She has severed my connection to the vampire!"

The Wolf remained even-tempered. "But you retain the power which you have already drawn from him. All is not lost."

"It is only a matter of time before she discovers a way to reverse our magics."

"By then, it will be too late."

At that moment, two psychics approached the immense demons tentatively.

"We have found them, my Lords."

* * *

Research got into full swing, and Buffy decided to leave them all to it while she went to get some air. The bump on her head had diminished significantly, thanks to the accelerated healing her slayerhood afforded her, but she was still feeling a little woozy. 

Before she left the library, she had again attempted to breech the subject of Kennedy with Willow, to offer her sympathy and let her friend know that she was there for her. But Willow had brushed her off. _There would be time to mourn later_, she had said. _Right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand._

Buffy understood that. It had been something she too had felt when she lost her mom – facing a physical evil may not take the pain or the anger away, but it focused it in a more manageable way. Fighting a battle you still might win was comforting, particularly when a battle you had already lost haunted you.

Buffy didn't hear Spike slip out of the library after her, but wasn't the least bit surprised when he came to stand beside her by the grand window she'd been gazing out of.

"Suns up," she observed. "How come you're not a big pile of dust?"

He closed his eyes and signed, savoring the sunlight on his face.

"Tempered glass," he informed her. "Our ivory tower over at Wolfram and Hart had it too. It's kinder and gentler for the vamp who doesn't tan well."

A comfortable silence settled over them, him presence bringing her more solace than anything he could have said.

Without looking at him, her hand sought his, slipping into it with no resistance. Having been given unspoken permission to touch her, he pulled her by the hand into a tight embrace.

"You okay?" he whispered into her hair, breaking the silence between them.

"Better," she replied. "Getting better by the minute. Slayer strength and all –"

He swooped in and captured her mouth with his – kissing her tenderly at first, before building to a passionate kiss that left her breathless.

"Enough with the tough-girl routine, Slayer," he told her when he finally let her breathe. "It's me you're talking to, not one of your 'Nancy-boy' mates."

She sighed, knowing it was useless to try and lie to him.

"I'm scared," she admitted. "Those demons? Probably the biggest and baddest I've even gone up against. My first encounter with them left me unconscious. Next time, I might not be so lucky."

"Yeah, but Red's on the case, right?" he replied with optimism. "My brilliant idea might actually pay off."

One look in her eyes told him she wasn't quite sharing in his enthusiasm.

"One of these days, our plans, the spells, whatever… one of these days its not going to pay off, and then… We might not walk away from this one."

"But you're not worried about meeting your maker," he said knowingly. "You've already died – what – half a dozen times?"

"Twice, actually," she corrected him. "But who's counting?"

"Yeah, well, whatever. Death doesn't scare you anymore."

She stopped herself before she sighed again. As ever, Spike knew her too damn well…

"I wouldn't be wigging if it were just me in all this. But Dawn? Willow? Xander? Giles? If something were to happen to them – " she paused for a moment. "Or to you…"

He gave her another squeeze. "Don't be getting all misty on me, Slayer. I'm fresh out of hankies," he replied. "I'm already dead, remember? And I'm only here right now on a pass. Come the end of this fight, most likely I'm going back to the great beyond."

She refused to get upset, no matter how much effort it cost her. Instead, she asked him in the most level voice she could muster –

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Used to," he admitted after considering the question for a moment. "When the amulet turned me into a spook and I thought I was checking out, I was terrified. Mostly because I figured a bloke like me – I'd be heading to the fire and brimstone place. But now… now I know I'm going to the good place. So now? No, it doesn't bother me."

Another silence fell between them as Buffy absorbed this. After a moment, Spike drew his body away from hers and turned to look out of the window.

"But you dying in this fight?" he said, not looking at her. "_That will_ bother me. I came back to get you through this in one piece, and that's what I'm going to do, no matter what happens to me in the process."

She shook her head. "This isn't just about me. We need to stop the Senior Partners. If it takes me dying to…"

"No Buffy," he cut her off angrily. "You've already beaten the odds – lived a lot longer than most Slayers. But I intend for you to live a whole lot longer."

He was so fierce, so determined; there was nothing left for her to say. So, instead, she kissed him.

* * *

"Connor," Angel tried again as his son looked even more menacing – feral, almost. 

"Did you hurt her?" he replied, eyeing Cordelia's limp figure. "Did you drink from her, demon?"

"Connor… I can explain."

For the first time, Angel realized that Connor was dressed strangely – in the animal skins that he had been wearing when he had arrived from Quor'toth. In his hand, he clutched what appeared to be handmade weapons – crude, but no doubt effective.

"My name is Stephen," he insisted again, tightening his grip on his weapons and readying himself for the attack. "I am the Destroyer. My father told me all about _your _kind. He taught me how to kill you."

"Your father?" Angel frowned, his irritation overcoming his common sense. "_Holtz_ was _not_ your father, Connor. _I _am."

"No!" Connor yelled, launching himself at Angel. Caught by surprise, Angel stumbled backwards, hitting the ground. Using the momentum of the fall, he flipped Connor over and off of him before the younger warrior could pin him down.

Rolling to one side, Angel leapt to his feet just as Connor came at him again. He dodged three blows in quick succession, before batting one blade out of his son's hand. The other, however, swung around to catch him on the arm. The cut was deep, but didn't slow the vampire down as he spun and kicked Connor backwards.

"Will you just calm down so we can talk about this?"

In reply, Connor pulled a stake from the belt around his waist.

"I guess not," Angel remarked, readying himself for another attack.

Connor lunged at him and Angel caught his wrist, holding the wooden weapon away from his chest as best he could. They collided with the craggy, stone wall and struggled against it; first one, then the other gaining the upper hand.

The stake was pressing into Angel's chest, digging into his skin as he held onto Connor's hand, literally for dear life. The kid was strong – a fact that would have instilled great fatherly pride in him, were it not for the fact that he was now trying to use that strength to commit patricide.

A bright light filled the dark cave, sending Angel and Connor spinning off in opposite directions. When the glow subsided, Angel looked up from his new vantage point of being sprawled on the ground. Cordelia was on her feet, unsteady and pale, definitely still weak, yet glowing with power. Her hands on her hips, she also looked seriously pissed off.

"Are you _quite_ finished?"

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	34. Because We Have To

**Author's Note: **As ever, thanks to everyone for their support. I couldn't have come this far without you.

The scene in Connor's subconscious comes from Season Four's "Inside Out" (written & directed by Steven S DeKnight)

* * *

"I can't leave the two of you alone for a second, can I?" Cordelia chastised them.

Connor was wild-eyed as he looked from Angel to Cordelia, before realizing where the jolt of magical power had come from. Unmindful of the expression on Cordy's face – which any sane man would have cowered at – he turned his rage towards her.

"Filthy demon!" Connor spat, taking her aback.

"Excuse me! The ongoing war might have cut into my personal grooming time. And yes, technically, half-demon," she admitted. "But _hey_!"

He sprang at her, prompting Angel yell and jump to his feet in an effort to protect her. Before he could get across the cave, however, Cordelia began to emit another glow – a softer one this time – as she reached out to Connor. He slowed in his tracks and simply stood there as Cordy touched his face.

"It's okay, Connor. That's enough. You don't have to fight anymore. Let it go. Just let it go."

Her voice was calm, soothing, and Angel could see all the rage ebbing away from his son's face.

"Let it go."

Finally, he slumped to the ground, sobbing, and Cordelia leaned back against the wall of the cave exhausted. Angel was at her side in an instant, helping to support her weight.

"Hey," she greeted him with a tired smile.

"Hey," he responded in kind, before remembering just why she was so weak. His face fell as guilt washed over him. "Cordy, I'm so sorry… I -"

Shaking her head, she brought her fingers up to cover his lips and silence him. "That wasn't your fault, Angel. It was all part of the delusion the Senior Partners were feeding you. I'm just glad you snapped out of it."

He looked down at his son, and then at their current surroundings, and frowned.

"What's going on? Where are we?"

"My best guess? We're currently somewhere in Connor's subconscious. I'm hoping that jolt I gave him will sever the connection the Senior Partners have with him – stop their brain-drain. Then, in theory, I'll be able to wake the two of you up."

"Good theory," Angel replied as Connor got to his feet and the cave they were in became a darkened room in what appeared to be some kind of warehouse. In the corner, a girl cowered, afraid for her life.

"Please!" the young girl sobbed.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I brought you some water," Connor told her, holding out the cup.

"Damn," Cordy said, looking on. "I guess my little energy bolt calmed him down a little, but didn't snap him out of his delusion."

"What do we do now?" Angel asked. "You know what's going to happen here, right?"

She nodded grimly. "Only too well."

* * *

"Here's something," Giles announced, pointing out a passage in the text her had been reading. "It's a little more – _gruesome_ – than the effect we're after, but…"

Willow glanced over the incantation. "A spell for a sorcerer to, er, _rip_ the energy from his enemies. Ooh, with a subsection on removing the life force from an entire army – _oh_! –eviscerating them in the process."

Xander grimaced. "Nasty."

"_Yikes_," Dawn commented with a little gulp. "You're not going to have to eviscerate anyone, are you Will?"

Willow simply smirked and set to work on the text, while Giles sat forward, lacing his fingers together in a thoughtful manner, to address Dawn's question.

"The original enjoining spell was to join together specific elements from just four people and combine them, along with the primal essence of the slayer, within one vessel, to be wielded by 'the hand'," he explained. "Obviously, adjustments will have to be made in our – unique circumstance."

Willow jotted something down in her notebook and grinned, double checking in the large tome beside her before looking up at Giles.

"Well?" he asked her expectantly.

Her face alone was enough to convince Xander.

"By George, I think she's got it," he said in an awful imitation of Giles' accent.

Willow nodded gleefully. "I think this just might work."

"Just might?" Xander's confidence wavered slightly. "Not definitely or without a doubt?" He looked around the room, suddenly a little worried. "Does anyone still have a copy of Oz's hummus plan? Because, at this stage, I think we should be open to all suggestions – anything that doesn't involved viscera."

"Xander –" she admonished good naturedly. "It's going to work, okay?"

"It better," Faith informed her as she re-entered the library. "One of the patrols just checked in. The demon army is a few miles away and headed this way. Looks like they'll be here by sundown."

"We'd better be prepared, then," Giles said. "Faith, you and Buffy get the girls ready. Willow? What do you need?"

"The scythe," she replied. "And a little help from you guys."

* * *

Connor seemed fine at first. He tried to calm the crying girl he was holding captive – offering her water and telling her he was sorry. The next thing he was looking around him, unnerved, and talking to no one.

"What's going on?" Angel asked. "Part of his delusion?"

"You can't be my mother," Connor told no one. "My mother is dead."

"Darla?" Angel whispered, looking around the room.

Cordelia looked at him, surprised. "You can see her?"

"No," he replied. "Is she here?"

Cordy nodded. "Sort of. The Powers sent her spirit to Connor, to try and convince him not to take part in this murder. Obviously it didn't work."

"How long do we have until…"

"Until the thing in my body gives birth?" she asked, her voice making a brave attempt at being light. "A few minutes, maybe."

"We need a plan," Angel told her. "How are we going to snap Connor back to reality?"

* * *

Faith found a large number of slayers huddled around the long table in the mansion's cavernous kitchen, chowing down on the supplies some of the girls had taken from a nearby abandoned store. There was a strange vibe in the air – fear and uncertainty coming off each girl in waves.

The low buzz of chatter died down when they saw the dark-haired slayers, and all eyes turned to her.

"They're on their way here," she told them. "We have 'til sunset to be ready."

The murmuring started up again – this time in a different pitch. Panic.

"Hey! I need you to stay calm here," she yelled. "We're working on a plan, and we'll clue you in before the time comes, but you need to trust us, okay?"

"Looks like some of your speechifying has rubbed off on her, love," Spike remarked to Buffy as the entered the kitchen.

"Looks like," Buffy smirked. She stood at Faith's side and faced the crowd of slayers before her. "Willow has a plan that is going to work. Powerful magicks that will defeat the Senior Partners. But we'll need each and every one of you at one hundred percent when we go onto that battlefield. So eat up and get some rest while you can."

Most of the girls went back to their food, but Rona got up from her bench and approached Buffy.

"Have you seen… how Vi's doing?"

Buffy's expression softened. "I've just been by the infirmary. She's still unconscious. But they managed to stop the bleeding. You can go sit with her, if you like."

Rona couldn't speak, so she simply nodded and headed out of the room.

Faith grabbed both her and Buffy a drink and huddled together with Spike to plan.

"So, what's the deal? How soon before Will does her hocus pocus," she asked the blonde slayer.

"She won't be able to do it until the battle starts," Buffy replied. "It only lasts a limited amount of time. So we'll have to keep the demons busy while she performs the spell."

"Without getting ripped apart by the big bads," Spike remarked.

"You will need my help."

They turned to see Illyria standing in the doorway.

"You up for this fight, blue?" Spike asked her.

She fixed her cold, blue stare on him. "I am."

* * *

Rondell strode into what had become the infirmary to check on his injured crew members – the few that had survived. He did a double take at the sight of several demons – those who had not participated in the battle – tending to them, led by Lorne.

He approached Nico first. "Hey man. How you feeling?"

Nico shrugged. "My leg's all messed up, man," he replied. "I don't know how much help I'm gonna be to you for a while."

Rondell patted him on the shoulder. "You just rest up. Get back on your feet, okay?"

He moved on through the room, stopping to talk to his friends who were awake, pausing by the bedsides of those who were unconscious and trying to take in the extent of their injuries. So many members of his crew were dead. So many more were horribly injured, lying amongst scores of demons and slayers alike who come off worse in battle, but who's suffering had not yet ended.

And yet, the fight was not over.

Lorne joined him by the bedside of another of his friends. He barely recognized him as Michael, who had joined his crew two years before. Now he lay, unconscious but in terrible pain, with half of his body covered in terrible burns.

"Can't you give him anything for the pain?" he asked the green demon.

Lorne nodded. "We tried dosing him up with magical morphine," he replied. "But his injuries… there's nothing more we can do until we can get out of the city and get him to a hospital."

Rondell leveled a cold look in his direction and Lorne saw the despair that was there. "We're not getting out of this city."

"You will not beat your enemy with that attitude," a weak voice said behind him.

Turning, Rondell found himself face to face with Rieff. His shirt was off and his stomach was heavily bandaged.

"Where's that cocky attitude of yours, human?" the demon asked him. "I thought you were indestructible."

"Doesn't feel much like that today," Rondell replied.

Rieff nodded, understanding.

"It's hard to believe in your ability to fight when those you care about have fallen," he said with wisdom beyond his years. "But you cannot give up."

"Why not?" Rondell challenged him.

"For the same reason that we must win this fight," Rieff replied. "Because we have to."

* * *

Darla had obviously succeeded, at least temporarily, because Connor, after running the gamut of emotions, was now stooping to untie his captive.

"What are you doing?"

Connor turned around, looking guilty, and saw Cordelia, dressed in black and heavily pregnant, watching him from the doorway, a meat cleaver in her hand. Nervously, he stood up to face her.

"Nothing. I…"

"It's time," she told him. "Take her in the other room."

He hesitated for a moment, torn.

"She didn't do anything," he said. "We should let her go."

The evil Cordelia was dumbfounded.

"No, we shouldn't. We need her, Connor. Our baby—"

"Shouldn't be anointed with innocent blood."

"Anointed? Who's been filling your head with big confusing words?"

The real Cordelia turned to Angel. "This is going to go down any minute. What are we going to do?"

"When you interacted with me, in my subconscious, I reacted, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Tried to kill me – a couple of times."

"So, we distract Connor. Try to delay the ritual. Maybe that will…"

"It's Angel," the Pregnant Cordelia said.

Angel's head snapped round to see what was going on. "What? What did I do," he said, confused.

"Trying to turn you against me with a cheap vision of…" she paused, her eyes locking on the vision Connor had been seeing. "Darla."

"You can see her?" Connor asked.

"I see the lies," she told him.

The real Cordy averted her eyes, unable to watch this horrible scene from her memory. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"God, I can't –" she said. "Angel, I…"

He put an arm around her, letting her head fall onto his chest. "Shh. It's okay, Cordy. That wasn't you."

"I'm – She's about to murder that poor girl."

"You are not my mother!" screamed at the vision of Darla, tears beginning to stream down his face but his rage unmistakable. Grabbing the young girl by the ropes that bound her wrists, he began to drag her towards the other room.

"Now, Angel!" Cordy yelled.

They both charged at him, knocking him off his feet and away from the girl. He looked back and forth between the two Cordelia's. The evil Cordy didn't even seem to notice anything strange had happened – she simply continued to walk towards the other room, a self-satisfied smirk upon her face.

"Another trick?" Connor asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Connor, you have to stop this," Angel told him.

The younger man got to his feet, shaking his head.

"You're trying to split up my family!" he yelled at his father. "You want to kill my child just like you wanted to kill me!"

"That's not true, son."

Connor drew his sword. "I won't let you ruin this for me, _Dad," _he spat contemptuously. "I'll kill you before I let that happen."

He made to attack Angel, but Cordelia stepped in the way.

"Angel, back up. Let me talk to him."

Angel backed to the far end of the room while she turned to Connor. His battle stance had softened somewhat at her presence, but he still looked aggressive and distrusting.

"You're not the real Cordy."

"Connor, none of _this_ is real," Cordy told him. "This is all just a memory. Please. Try to remember. This all happened over a year ago."

"No!" he yelled. "You're just a trick. You're trying to stop my baby from coming into this world."

He turned away from her and Cordy dashed forwards, grabbing his arm. With a roar that didn't even sound human, Connor back handed her, sending her crashing to the floor. Not even looking back, he grabbed the girl once more and followed the evil Cordelia out of the room.

"Cordy!" Angel cried out, immediately rushing to her side. Blood seeped from a cut at the side of her mouth and she raised a hand to wipe it away.

"Blood," she said, looking her crimson-stained fingers and prompting Angel to take a closer look at her wound.

"It's not deep," he told her. "There'll probably be some swelling, but…"

"No," she replied, finally getting it. "That's what will snap Connor out of this. My blood."

* * *

Everything was prepared. There was nothing to do now but wait.

Buffy and Spike stood shoulder to shoulder behind the tempered glass windows of the mansion and watched their troops take up their positions. Compared with the numbers they had originally started out with, it was a frighteningly small army. But it was all they had.

"Sun's going down," Buffy remarked.

Spike grinned grimly. "Showtime."

* * *

"Are you sure this will work?" Angel asked again.

"It has to," she replied. "I should have seen it before. That's what brought you out from under the spell – my blood."

He nodded and followed her out into the main body of the warehouse. The other Cordelia's labor was now well under way.

"Now, Angel. Before Jasmine is gets here."

Lunging forwards, they grabbed Connor, using the element of surprise to their advantage and managing to pin him to the ground. He struggled as Cordelia produced a knife.

"Hold him," she instructed Angel as she slid the blade across her palm, cutting into her flesh. Blood seeped up through the wound.

Placing her uninjured hand on Connor's lower jaw, she forced his mouth open. Before he could say or do anything, she brought her other hand down, letting her blood trickle into his mouth.

"Drink up, son," Angel told him. "It'll all be over soon."

* * *

They stood in the grand front lawn of Cyvus Vail's spectacular estate, which was about to become a battlefield. Menacingly, the demon army approached them – considerably smaller than the one they had faced the previous night, but daunting thanks to the presence of the two huge demons that led them.

"You know the drill," Faith told her troops. "We hold the demons off, and avoid the big ones, until Willow does her thing. Then the rest of you get the hell outta dodge."

"All of your powers are going to transfer to us temporarily," Buffy continued. "So you fall back, behind the heavy artillery and stay there. No heroics."

"Everyone get ready!" Faith called, hefting her axe in her hands and taking up a battle stance. Behind her, she could hear Willow begin to chant.

"The power of the Slayer and all who yield it. Last to ancient first, we invoke thee. Grant us thy domain and primal strength. Accept us in the power we possess."

"Here we go," Buffy said as the first rank of demons charged and the slayers ran out to meet them.

* * *

She could see the change happen in his eyes. It was as though a cloud was lifted there and now, suddenly, he could see again.

And he looked very confused.

She removed her hand from his mouth and they let him sit up.

"What…?" Connor started, and then grimaced, wiping his mouth and fighting the urge to spit the coppery taste from his mouth. "Did I – did I just drink blood?" he asked with no small measure of disgust.

"Yeah," Cordelia replied. "But only a little."

"Where are we?"

Looking around, they all experience the same suddenly feeling of dread in the pit of their stomach. They were back in the dark chamber – the one in the Pylean fortress.

"That's not good," Angel observed.

"Okay," Cordy said, trying to keep calm. She got up to look around the room. "We're not really here, guys. I just need to figure out how to wake you both up before…"

A gasping sound made her turn around.

The third Senior Partner – the Hart – had Connor and Angel by the throats, raising them into the air like rag dolls.

"Too late," It snarled. "Your souls are mine now."

**To Be Continued...**


	35. Power

**Author's Note: **The end is so close I can almost taste it. I have a sizable chunk of what I planned to be the final chapter written, but there are so many plotlines to tie up that I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to do it in two more chapters (or, more accurately, another chapter and an epilogue) I'll see where my muse takes me, but the end is very definitely nigh. And after a year and a half, it's definitely about time. I'm exhausted.

Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me through this long, long tale. The payoff is coming - I swear.

* * *

**Chapter 35 - Power**

"Angel!" Cordy screamed.

The demon was so large that its entire clawed hand wrapped easily around his throat. As a vampire, he was in no danger of suffocating – but given the dangerous look in the Hart's eyes, ripping Angel's head off was a distinct possibility.

Connor, not having the benefits of his father's non-breathing nature, was in even more difficulty. The demon's hand crushed down on his windpipe – literally choking the life out of him.

Cordelia took a deep breath. She could only hope her powers would work when she was in someone else's subconscious. Holding both hands in front of her, she willed a ball of light into being. Hurling it forward with all of her strength, she aimed for the centre of the beast's chest, in the hopes that it would drop both men.

The Hart saw the attack coming, twisting itself away to avoid the blast. The energy ball hit the shoulder of the arm that was holding Connor and the Demon's grasp buckled, allowing him to fall to the floor, gasping as the air rushed back into his lungs.

Without realizing how she was doing it, with a flick of her hand she magically pulled Connor across the room and behind her, before the Demon could grab him again. She had no time to check on him, however, because with both hands now free, the Hart was giving Angel its full attention. Grasping him by the neck with one hand and the shoulder with the other, it was becoming clear what it intended to do.

"I seem to have something you want, Miss Chase," it sneered at her. "You'll submit to me now, or I'll rip your lover in half."

* * *

The two armies met with a sickening crunch of bone and steel. Buffy's sword sliced through demon after demon while one eye remained fixed on the Wolf and the Ram – waiting for them to make their move. 

It came soon enough – a lightening bolt in her direction. She dove out of the way, barely in time. Instantly, Spike was at her side to pull her back onto her feet.

"Spike! Stop coddling me!"

He scowled at her. "I'm your shadow in this fight, Slayer. Deal with it!"

Ever stubborn, she returned his scowl, but there was no time to argue as more demons were coming their way. Instead, she channeled her annoyance at the blonde vampire into pummeling her attackers.

Behind them, Xander organized his artillery brigade.

"Archers! Fire at will."

A volley shot off into the demon ranks, many hitting their marks.

"Ready with the rocket launcher," he called to Amy, the slayer now charged with their last remaining big gun. Just then, he saw the Wolf preparing to fire another energy bolt at Buffy.

"Amy! Fire!"

The rocket flew straight at the huge demon and detonated. The explosion was immense, but when the smoke cleared, the Wolf appeared unharmed. Its attack on the Slayer, however, had been delayed.

Further back, sheltered from the battle by their lines of defense, Willow, Giles and Dawn sat in a magical circle, as Willow continued to chant, both hands holding the Scythe.

"One no longer – all who can, now possess thy ancient Power. Primal forces of the slayers, rejoined. Combine as one and inhabit the vessels – the chosen two. Let their hands encompass us. Do thy will."

A fierce growl made Dawn open her eyes in panic. Several indescribably ugly demons had circled around the main battle and were headed straight for them.

They got within ten feet of the magic circle, when Illyria appeared before them.

"You must face me, lower beings," she told them. "Try to best me if you dare."

They sprang at her at once, but did not count on her powers as a former old-one. In mere moments, there was nothing left of them and Illyria returned to the frontline of the battle, ready for more carnage.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Willow refocused on completing the spell.

"Spiritus. Animus. Sophus. Manus. May the four elements – earth, air, fire, water – inhabit and bless this magic. Fill the chosen vessels with the Powers of All. They enjoin that they may inhabit the vessel--the hand...the daughters of Sineya...first of the ones... I implore thee, do not ignore my plea, bring the Power to the vessels. Now!"

A swirling light encircled them, spinning wildly. It was as though all the noise of the battle stopped, save for the sound of the whirlwind of magical energy. It spiraled up into the air before seeking out its target – the vessels.

Buffy and Faith readied themselves for the jolt of energy that never came.

Instead, the magicks rocketed towards Willow, filling her completely. With an ethereal glow, she floated a few feet into the air, the look of shock still etched on her face.

"Oh Boy."

* * *

The Hart tightened its vice grip and pulled. Cordy could swear she could hear the ligaments and sinew in Angel's arm start to tear. Angel grunted in pain, never taking his eyes off Cordelia, willing her not to surrender. 

But she couldn't just stand there and watch as Angel was torn limb from limb.

"No!" she cried. "Wait!"

The Demon paused in his torture of the vampire. "You are submitting, then?"

"I –"

Before she could utter another word, a bolt of energy hit her, circling her body. She rose into the air, glowing and gasping in shock.

"Cordy!" Angel yelled, snapping his head back and catching the demon off guard. Its hold loosened and he dropped to the ground, ready to go to Cordelia's aid. It took a moment for him to realize that she didn't need his help.

Her eyes glowing orange, she locked her gaze on the Hart. When she spoke, she sounded other-worldly, as though her voice had been joined by many others, speaking as one.

"It will be you and your brethren who will submit, Demon."

* * *

For a moment, it was as if the entire battlefield had been frozen. Mouths agape, demon and human alike stared in wonder as Willow levitated into the air, pulsating with wraithlike energy. 

Buffy and Faith shared a look. This wasn't quite how it was supposed to go down…

The demons were the first to recover, the Wolf roaring a command to attack. They rushed forwards to meet with an army of girls who here no longer Slayers.

Ducking out of the way of a very scary set of claws, Buffy yelled for them all to retreat. She spotted Rona tripping over her own feet in fear and falling to the ground. Buffy grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to her feet, setting off running. She only managed to make it a short distance when something pounced on her from behind.

The hell beast snapped at her throat, ready for blood. Slayer strength gone, there was little Buffy could do.

It was moving in for the kill when it yelped and fell forward, dead, Spike's axe imbedded in the back of its neck.

The vampire pulled her out from underneath the animal and gave her a quick look over. Satisfied she was uninjured, he pushed her behind him.

"Get the hell out of here, love," he ordered her.

Knowing better now than to argue, she took off running once more while Spike and Illyria, the only two remaining with any powers, faced off with the demon hoards. From the back lines, Xander ordered another volley. Two dozen arrows and nearly as many grenades flew towards the enemy lines, helping to keep the demons at bay as the girls escaped.

The shock wore off quickly as the Power filled Willow, taking her over completely. Lowering herself to the ground, she strode towards the Partners. Demons attacked her along the way, but she avoided them like mere disturbances in the air, passing through the battle unharmed.

As she stood in front of her foes, she felt no fear. _It was odd_, she thought. She was still fully aware of what was going on, but it was as if she were no longer in control of her body. An entity far more powerful than she was now in the driver's seat.

"You think to defeat us, Witch?" the Ram snarled. "You may control powerful magicks, but you are no warrior."

"You are no threat to us," the Wolf agreed. "You are not a Slayer."

"I am_ all _the Slayers," she replied in a voice not of this world. "I am all Magicks. I am your End."

The Wolf quickly became bored and shot a lightening bolt at her. Holding out her hand, she absorbed the energy into herself effortlessly, remaining utterly unharmed.

Reeling in shock, the Ram raised its club and brought it crashing down, aiming straight for Willow's head. With a flick of her wrist, the club crumbled into dust.

Both creatures could not hide their surprise. For the first time, they looked uncertain – even fearful.

"How is this possible?" the Wolf asked.

"You cannot hope to grasp the source of our Power," she replied. "But it is time for me to remove the source of yours."

* * *

The Hart rushed at her, but Cordelia was ready. With agility and speed which Angel had never witnessed before, she avoided every punch, every swipe. Leaping into the air, she somersaulted over the demon's head, catching it by surprise with a roundhouse kick from behind. Moments later, with a mere flick of her wrist, she sent it sprawling against the stone wall of the chamber. 

Roaring in fury, the Hart leaped to its feet, ready to launch another attack. Cordelia, however, held up her hand and muttered a few words in what Angel guessed was Ancient Sumerian. With a shriek of frustration, the demon was paralyzed in place.

"How is this possible?"

"It is possible because I make it so," she replied. "I banish you demon –"

"No!" it yelled, its fear no longer concealed. "No! You can not –"

"I banish you demon. By the Power of the Slayer and all who wield it. By all Magicks and Nature. In the name of the Powers that Be –"

A wind sprang up from nowhere, whipping past Cordelia and towards the Hart, sweeping up all in its path. Angel ran to Connor, throwing himself down to protect his son as part of the altar broke away and flew across the room.

"I banish you!"

* * *

Both demons were paralyzed with just a few words from Willow. Now she stood, hands outstretched, drawing the stolen energy from them. With ever moment that passed, the demons seemed to diminish, growing smaller and less fearsome as the power that had raised them to earth was removed. 

"I banish you, Demons," Willow began when she sensed that almost all the Power they had drawn from Angel and Connor had been removed. It was an incantation she had never heard before, but somehow the words flowed from her. The further into the spell she got, the more the fury and the fear showed on her opponents' faces. They knew what was coming…

"I banish you!" she yelled and the wind that had sprung up from nowhere encircled the Wolf and the Ram like a tornado, sucking them into oblivion. A flash of light, an implosion of heat, and they were gone.

Willow now turned her gaze towards the remainder of the demon army, who were collectively staring towards the sky, as though hoping to see where their leaders had disappeared. With the attention of the Witch now upon them, they wasted no time in turning tail and running for their lives.

She watched them go, not moving, as though in a trance. Buffy approached her cautiously.

"Will?"

With an exhalation of breath, Willow sagged, collapsing as the Power left her and returned to its rightful owners. Slayer-speed returned, Buffy caught her before she hit the ground.

* * *

There had been a flash of blinding light and, when Angel looked again, the Hart was gone. 

"Cordy?"

Getting to his feet, he went to her. She stood in the centre of the chamber as though in a trance. Suddenly, she collapsed as if a huge amount of energy had left her all at once. With lightening quick speed, he caught her.

She looked up at him with brown eyes that were both full of love and exhaustion. When he smiled at her, she was sure that she'd never seen anything so welcome or wonderful in her life.

"Hey."

"Hey," she smiled back. "Let's go home."

**To Be Continued...**


	36. A Family Once More

**Author's Note: **It feels surreal, but this is the second to last chapter. The Epilogue has been written and will be posted tomorrow night (after a little bit of polishing up) I can't believe it's all but over...

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, everyone who has read this story over the past year and a half, and who have left reviews. Your kind words and support have carried me through many a difficult time, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I hope these final chapters please you and that they tie up all the many many storylines that have been going on in this piece.

Never again will I write such a huge piece with so many characters. It was exhausting. But, I have to admit, I also loved every minute (painful writers block and all) This spiraled into so much more than I ever planned or dreamed. 36 chapters (plus an epilogue). Somewhere in the region of 79,000 words (that's 4 times the length of my Master's thesis! eek!) So thanks for sticking with me.

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Six : A Family Once More**

When Angel, Cordelia and Connor opened their eyes in the grand room of the Vail mansion, they heard a huge commotion outside on the lawn. But it didn't sound like a battle. It sounded like…

Celebration.

Running outside, they saw their friends – their troops – yelling and crying in happiness and relief, hugging each other or just simply staring at the battlefield in disbelief.

They had won.

In the centre of the crowd stood the Scooby gang. Buffy smiled as she saw them approaching, putting her hands on her hips and affecting an exasperated pose.

"You missed the battle."

Angel laughed. "We kind of had one of our own to deal with."

"And yeah, speaking of which," Cordelia said. "What the hell happened, Willow? You don't warn a girl before you imbue her with serious superpowers?"

The Witch seemed just as confused, if somewhat thrilled, with the results of her spell, and had no explanation for what had happened. Giles, however, had a theory.

"The scroll Wesley sent me, the one that we used to resurrect you, Cordelia, repeatedly made reference to you as "The Vessel". So when Willow used that term in enjoining spell, I think the power sought out both of you – due to your mystical connection – rather than Buffy and Faith."

The Watcher cast a sideways glance at Buffy to see how she felt about what had happened as was relieved to see that she was smiling.

"Hey, I'll take any kind of break the Powers want to throw at me," she told him. "It was getting exhausting having to save the world all the damn time."

"Well sure," Xander quipped. "It never stays saved for long."

"So, are they dead?" Connor wanted to know. "The Senior Partners – did you kill them?"

Cordelia and Willow exchanged looks, but it was Angel that answered.

"They're eternal, Connor. They can't be killed."

"We banished them back to their own dimension," Willow added. "Their rising had been put off for another millennia or so. Best we could do. We won."

A look of pain crossed the Witch's face. Yes, they had won – but at what cost?

* * *

The day that followed was spent attempting to clear up some of the damage caused by the battle, in and around the Hyperion. The entire area looked like a war zone – which, in truth, it was. 

With sorrowful hearts, teams of slayers gathered up their dead, laying them out in the ballroom, wrapped in shrouds. The corpses of the demon army – those which hadn't considerately turned to dust or dissolved upon death – were loaded up into vans, to be buried in a mass grave in the rubble of the Wolfram and Hart offices.

Inside the hotel, they did their best to sweep up the glass and the debris. It would take time, but repairs would be made, a semblance of normality returned to. The property damage was significant but not catastrophic.

The same could not be said for the human cost of the war.

* * *

They measured that cost after sunset that night, as they buried their dead. The garden of the Hyperion backed onto a beautiful community garden and it was there that the graves were dug. 

As they lowered Kennedy's body into the ground, Willow finally allowed herself to accept her loss, and began to weep openly. Flanked by Buffy and Xander, her body wracked with sobs, she clung to them as they gave her all the support they could.

The long list of names was read off – Kennedy, Andrew, followed by Slayers, Demons and Streetfighters alike – all of their fallen comrades remembered and honored.

As the last body was lowered into the ground, Giles stepped forward to say a few words.

"That which has come from the Earth has returned to the Earth," he said, reading from a large black volume which Willow had lent him. Traditionally, the Wiccan Requiem ceremony was performed by a High Priestess. But Willow had made it clear that she was in no state to perform the ritual and had left it in Giles's more than capable hands.

"That which belonged to the Spirit has returned to the Ancient Ones. The wheel turns."

He looked among the faces gathered around them. Yes, they had lost much. So many young lives snuffed out in the face of evil. But there was much that had survived. They had won the battle, despite the cost. They had snatched the Earth back from the jaws of evil. And now, gathered around him, was the future. Young slayers who would guard and protect this world of theirs, against all the darkness that would inevitably attempt to rise up in the years to come. Life was truly a circle. Death came – often too soon – but life, in all its glorious shapes and colors, went on.

"That which belongs to fellowship and love – that which belongs to the circle, remains with us. Nothing is final."

He looked across the crowd to Buffy, Willow, Xander and Dawn and smiled supportively at them. Their love and friendship had taken them all this far, and would take them further still.

"No farewell is the last farewell. The wheel turns. And we who remain behind know that one day we will once again share the bread and wine with those who have gone before."

Angel wrapped his arm more tightly around Cordelia. They were silently lost in thought, remembering the members of their family who had gone before. Doyle. Wesley. Fred. Gunn. They felt their presence now as they said their goodbyes to others who had died fighting the good fight. Had died champions.

* * *

After the service had ended, the large group dispersed – some grouping together to talk over old times, others choosing to spend time alone in quite reflection, or simply looking for space. 

Cordy searched in vain for any sign of Illyria. It was strange, but after everything, Cordy felt the need to look on Fred's face – however changed by the presence of the demon. She missed her.

Illyria's presence had been sporadic since the end of the battle and now she was no where to be found. When she asked Spike, the vampire simply nodded and she knew. Illyria would not be coming back.

* * *

Angel approached Lorne's door with some trepidation. The issues between them had been put on hold by the battle and now he knew that they needed to resolve them. 

Lorne answered the soft rap on his door wearing his trademark satin robe, holding an equally trademarked sea breeze in one hand. He gave the vampire a half-hearted smile.

"Angel-cakes. I'm having a nightcap before bed. Want to join me?"

He proffered the glass as he moved away from the door to let Angel enter.

"No thanks, Lorne," he replied, shutting the door behind him, his nervousness increasing. "Look… I know we need to talk."

The demon sat down in the comfortable chair nestled in an alcove by the bed and shrugged.

"Yeah, we do," he admitted. "So lets… not."

Angel sank down on the corner of the bed, utterly nonplussed.

"What?"

The demon sighed and took another sip of his drink. "They say the first casualty in any war is innocence. And boy did I lose mine. And I'm not saying that I forgive you for putting me in that position because, believe me, that will be a _long_ time coming. But I made the choice. I agreed. And I'll have to live with that. And so will you."

Angel nodded. "I know. And I'm sorry for asking you…"

Lorne held up his hand. "We all have to make tough choices in wartime. Mostly ones that no civilized person would ever dream of making. We'll be okay… someday."

They sat in silence for a moment as they absorbed this. Things were not okay between them. But they would be, and that was something.

"What are your plans now?" Angel wanted to know.

"I'm not sure yet," the demon replied. "I thought I might get out of LA for a while. Do a little bit of traveling. See the world."

"You'll come back, though. Right?"

Lorne finished his drink. "The City of Angels has my heart, Angel-kins. I'll not stray from her for too long."

* * *

Spike remained at Buffy's side throughout – never sure when the time would come that he'd be called back by the Powers, so making the most of his remaining time with her. She, meanwhile, had slowly come to terms with the knowledge that he would be leaving. 

"I need you to know something," she told him when they were alone later that night. They sat together on the bench in the garden – he's arm slung protectively across her shoulder, her head buried in his chest.

"What's that, pet?"

"When I said 'I love you', before you died in Sunnydale?" she began, sitting up so that she could look him straight in the eye. "I meant it."

"Buffy…"

She placed her fingers on his lips to silence him.

"I meant it. I don't know how or when, but I fell in love with you. I loved you that night – and I love you now. You have done more, come further, grown more than anyone – anyone I've ever met. You fought and almost died to regain your soul. You died to save the world – more than once. You are an incredible man. And I love you."

For the first time in his unlife, Spike was completely lost for words. So instead he kissed her, with more passion and tenderness than he thought it were possible for him to show. When the kiss ended, he knew it was time.

"I'll always be with you, you know that?" he told her.

Tears in her eyes, she nodded, no longer able to speak.

"I love you too," he told her with a smile.

And then he was gone.

* * *

Over the next few days, people slowly began to leave the hotel. Rondell and his remaining crew members were first to go. As he left, Rieff approached the human. 

"I wanted to thank you," the demon said. "For saving my life."

Rondell was taken aback for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Not something I ever thought I'd do," the young man admitted. "But I'm not sorry I did it."

With only a brief hesitation, he clasped the demon by the hand before rejoining his crew and heading out into the bright Los Angeles sunshine.

* * *

As the numbers in the hotel decreased, Angel knew it was only a matter of time before Connor also took his leave. The young man had been quiet since he woke up from his enchanted coma – Angel would often find him deep in thought and spending much of his time alone. 

"Like Father like Son," Cordelia had commented. "He's got the brood-gene."

Angel had tried to give him space, but didn't like to leave him alone too much either, for fear of his son going off the rails as he had the previous year. But he didn't seem quite so angry anymore. Just… sad.

Two days after the funerals, Angel found him alone in the basement, lost in thought.

"Hey."

Connor looked up, not surprised to see his father standing there.

"Hey," he replied, granting Angel a small smile.

"How are you doing, son?"

Connor measured his words, choosing each one carefully, it seemed. "I've been thinking that I should maybe… head out soon. My… my parents are expecting me to join them in Montana."

"Oh…" was all Angel could manage. After a moment, he collected himself. "Well, that's good. They're your family and its… good. That you want to be with them."

"Dad."

Angel looked at him, surprised.

"You're still my father," Connor told him. "That's never going to change. And I'm not leaving LA for good. I just need to go… clear my head. For a while. That – with the Senior Partners? That was intense."

Angel nodded. "Yeah."

"I thought I was over it all. I thought everything that happened last year before the spell… I thought all the pain had been erased. But it's still there. The Partners were able to tap into it and use it against me. I still have a lot I need to let go of."

Angel measured the difference between the young man that sat before him now, and the one he was confronted with the previous year. Both had been through so much pain. Too much, for his young years. And yet, the Connor he was faced with now, though clearly troubled, was so much stronger than the Connor of a year ago. A year ago, Connor had given up. Now, he was ready to move on.

"I'm proud of you, son," Angel told him. "The way you… I…"

Suddenly, anything else he could say felt inadequate. So he stuck to the simple truth of the matter.

"I'm proud of you."

* * *

Soon there was no one left at the Hyperion except Angel, Cordelia and the Scoobie core. The majority of the slayers had returned to Europe of other parts of America to spend time with their families. Now a blended family of sorts spent time together in the rare peace and quiet they found themselves in. 

Dawn stretched and yawned but was determined not to sleep yet so that she would miss nothing. Willow sat behind her, quietly braiding the teenager's hair and lost in her own thoughts of Kennedy and Tara.

Xander and Buffy sat closely together, her head on his shoulder, as he comforted her loss without saying a word, while Giles sat reading, occasionally looking up from his book to add something to the conversation. Faith sat on the desk, oiling her crossbow, feigning disinterest, but secretly relishing their old war stories.

Angel sat at Cordy's feet, one hand resting on her knee, as if to ensure that she was still there. She had regained something of her old self, joining in the discussion over the old times with animation.

"Oh god! What about when all the vamps came after us at the high school when the Hellmouth nearly opened – for the first time," she amended, knowing all too well how many times it had _almost_ opened after that.

"You mean when you drove your car through the school, right up to the library door?" Giles asked, still amazed that she had done such a thing.

"Desperate times," she replied. "You would have done the same with half a dozen vampires on your tail. And I was still trying to get used to the whole concept of 'vampires and demons are real' back then."

"What about when the Zombie Quarterback wanted to cut off your head and attach it to his Bride of Frankenstein?" Willow added.

Cordy quirked an eyebrow at the Witch. "What about when you found out you were dating a werewolf."

"Well at least I didn't exclusively date demons," Willow retorted. "Like Xander."

"Hey!"

"She's got a point, Xand," Buffy reminded him.

Xander still looked aghast. "Yeah. But cheap shot."

Willow stuck her tongue out at him.

"Let's face it, gang. Is there any of us who _hasn't _dated a demon?" Buffy remarked.

A collective shrug went around the room. With the exception of Giles, who slowly raised his hand.

"I haven't."

Xander snorted. "Told you all those British Librarian types were boring."

Giles shot the younger man a stern look, before turning to Angel, who had been quietly enjoying the banter.

"So, Angel. Have you given any thought as to what you'll do now?" the Watcher asked. "Will you start up the detective agency again?"

Angel and Cordy shared a look. It was something they had talked over at length and had both agreed upon.

"I don't think it would feel right," he replied. "Starting up Angel Investigations again. Not with Wes, Gunn and Fred gone."

"We're not sure what we'll do yet," Cordy replied. "Right now, I think lots and lots of sleep is my number one priority."

She looked at Angel and he nodded, talking her hand and helping her to her feet.

"Night you guys."

A chorus of _goodnights_ followed them as they made their way, hand-in-hand, to the stairs.

It was strange, Cordy thought, how comfortable they all were together now. After all that had happened, they had come through the other side. As friends. As lovers.

As family.

As far as victories went – in war, or otherwise – that had to be the greatest victory of all.


	37. Epilogue Thank You

**Author's Note: **Wow. This is it. I'm so sad to be leaving this story, but after all this time, kind of relieved too.

Thank you. Everyone who read & reviewed. I can't say that enough. So, instead of gushing my thanks, I'm giving you this chapter. I hope it adequately expresses my gratitude for all your kindness and support.

* * *

**Epilogue - Thank You**

Cordelia felt warm. Not hot – exactly. But it was warmth that spread from deep within her, emanating outwards. If she had opened her eyes, she felt sure that the light would be blinding, but with her eyes closed, there was simply a soft glow behind her tired lids.

It was like something was drawing her, tapping into her Power – into her soul. It was a similar feeling to when she ascended to be a Higher Power – like she was being drawn upwards, floating. Ascending.

A stab of regret went through her then. She had never told him what she had agreed to. She hadn't prepared him. That wasn't fair, she now realized. This would affect him just as much as her – more even. She should have told him.

She hadn't even really given herself a chance to make her peace with her decision. With her _choice_. And now it was too late. She felt the Powers that Be drawing her and she knew it was time. A bargain had been struck.

The light intensified and Cordy felt herself gasp. This was it…

* * *

Hours later, Angel awoke. 

Something was wrong.

Maybe _wrong_ wasn't the right description. But something was… different.

And then he heard it – a heartbeat. And it wasn't Cordelia's.

His heart was beating.

He sat up, not sure if he was dreaming or, if it were possible that this was…

_Real_.

He was alive. His heart was beating. He was… human.

The excitement and sheer joy rushed through him at an almost unbearable level. It couldn't be happening. But if it was…

He turned to the other side of the bed, desperate to share the moment with Cordy. She alone would appreciate the magnitude of this. She alone had been with him through every step of his atonement. She alone had shared his hopes and dreams connected to the Shanshu prophecy.

She wasn't there.

Her side of the bed was empty. Angel frowned. There was something really off. The single biggest moment of his long and eventful life and she was missing it. The one person in all the world that he'd want to share it with.

"Cordy?" he called out.

There was no answer.

"Cordy?" he said a little louder, his worry growing. Surely if she was just in the bathroom, she'd have heard him.

Getting out of bed, he went to the bathroom door and knocked. When no one answered, he opened the door and found the room empty.

Where was she?

A little voice of panic began within him. He was human and Cordelia was no where to be found. What if…?

It was ridiculous, he told himself. She wouldn't… not without telling him.

But what if…?

It wasn't fair – if this was the price for his mortality, then it wasn't fair. What was the point? He'd finally become human, and what? He couldn't share it with the woman he loved? What was the point in receiving his reward? He didn't want it. Not without her.

His dark thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

"You awake yet, sleepy head?"

His eyes widened. "Cordy?"

"Who'd you think it'd be, silly?" she asked, joining him by the bed. "I wanted to stay, but I thought you'd want this when you woke up."

She proffered a brown bag that smelt suspiciously like a breakfast burrito and a take-out cup of coffee. He looked from them back to the beaming smile upon her face.

"You know?" he asked.

"Well, duh," she replied in her own Cordelia-esque manner, setting their breakfast down when he didn't take it from her. "Of course I know. You're a real live boy, Pinocchio."

She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. God, this was real._ He_ was real. She could feel the warmth of his skin, hear his heart beating.

He rested his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes.

"What did you do, Cordy?"

"Who? Me?" she batted her eyelashes and feigned innocence and he was having none of it. "I made a deal. But for once, it wasn't with the devil."

Drawing her back over to the bed, he sat her down, making it clear he wanted more of an explanation that that.

"When the Powers told me they needed me to come back for this battle, I told them there was only one way I'd agree to it. For them to allow the Shanshu prophecy to come true."

"But I'd already signed it away," Angel interjected, prompting Cordelia to nod.

"Right. So I needed to offer them something in return," she told him. "Angel, this battle? Destroying the Circle of the Black Thorn and fighting in the subsequent war? _That _was the destiny the prophecy foretold. When the battle was over, you were supposed to become human."

"The Circle knew," he realized. "That's why they got me to sign it away. They knew it was about to happen."

"And I couldn't let you give it all up," she replied. "Not when you came so close. Not when you did everything the Powers that Be had asked of you. So I offered them a trade."

"What did you…?"

When she smiled this time, it was tinged with the merest hint of wistfulness.

"Well, it's not as though I'll need them, now that you're not a super Vamp detective any more."

Angel's mouth opened in shock. "Your visions?"

"Visions. Demony Powers. Higher Being-ness. Everything. I'm just a regular human being now." She ran a hand across his chest and let it rest above his heart, relishing the feel of its beat. "Just like you."

"Just like me," he repeated, still in totally shock. Everything seemed so unreal. "Cordy, I…"

She cut him off mid-sentence, swooping in and capturing his lips in a kiss. This was it. After everything they'd both been through, finally things were the way they were supposed to be. And it was perfect.

They sank back onto the bed, Angel covering her face and neck with kisses, showering her with love and affection.

"You don't mind?" she asked him. "That I didn't tell you first?"

"Mind?" he laughed. She'd given him everything. A life. A future. Love. How could he ever put into words how grateful he was for all those precious gifts?

"I love you, Cordy," he told her. "How can I ever thank you for..."

She looked deep into his brown eyes and saw not only love. She saw their future.

"I love you too," she told him. "And I can think of _many_ ways for you to thank me."

She kissed him again to emphasis her point.

"We have the rest of our lives to thank each other."

**THE END.**


End file.
